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OF  THE 


Municipal  Commission  on  Delinquent 
Dependent  and  Defective  Children 


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ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


1911 


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YARD  AND  BUILDINGS— DELINQUENT  DEPARTMENT. 


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REPORT 


OF  THE 

Municipal  Commission  on  Delinquent, 
Dependent  and  Defective  Children 


In  Accordance  with  Provisions  of  Ordinance 

No.  25377 


An  ordinance  to  create  a  commission  to  investigate  and  report  as  to  the 
best  method  of  the  care  and  education  of  delinquent,  dependent  and  defective 
children  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis  and  the  best  plan  for  the  removal  and 
reorganization  of  the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School  and  to  make  an  appro¬ 
priation  to  pay  the  expenses  and  outlays  which  may  thereby  be  incurred. 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  Municipal  Assembly  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  as 
follows: 

Section  One.  There  is  hereby  created  a  commission  which  shall  consist 
of  three  members  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor  and  confirmed  by  the 
Council.  Said  commission  shall  be  appointed  within  cen  days  after  the  taking- 
effect  of  this  ordinance. 

Section  Two.  The  duties  of  said  commission  shall  be  to  investigate 
the  methods  adopted  by  other  cities  for  the  care  and  education  of  delinquent, 
dependent  and  defective  children,  to  study  the  local  conditions  pertinent  to 
such  classes  of  children  and  to  report  to  the  Municipal  Assembly  its  recom¬ 
mendations  as  to  the  wisest  and  most  beneficial  treatment  of  such  children  in 
St.  Louis,  and  the  best  plan  for  the  removal  and  reorganization  of  the  St.  Louis 
k  Industrial  School.  The  members  of  said  commission  shall  receive  no  compensa¬ 

tion  for  their  services,  and  the  amount  of  their  expenditures  shall  be  limited 
to  the  amount  of  the  appropriation  herein. 

Section  Three.  There  is  hereby  appropriated  and  set  apart  out  of  Munici¬ 
pal  Revenue  the  sum  of  One  Thousand  Five  Hundred  Dollars  ($1,500),  to 
a  fund  to  be  designated  “Fund  for  Investigation  of  Care  and  Education  of 
Delinquent  Children,”  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  Commission  created  by 
Section  One  of  this  ordinance. 

Approved  July  22,  1910. 


—3— 


St.  Louis,  Mo.,  March  4th,  1911. 

To  the  Honorable,  the  Mayor  and  Municipal  Assembly. 

Gentlemen : 

The  Commission  appointed  under  authority  of  Ordinance  No.  25377, 
'which,  for  lack  of  a  title  in  the  Ordinance,  has  styled  itself  4 ‘Municipal 
Commission  on  Delinquent,  Dependent  and  Defective  Children,”  sub¬ 
mits  herewith  a  report  covering  the  problems  of  the  care  of  these 
•classes  of  children  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  together  with  recommen¬ 
dations. 

Respectfully  yours, 

C.  G.  RATH  MANN,  Chairman. 

DWIGHT  F.  DAVIS. 

ROGER  N.  BALDWIN,  Secretary. 


In  signing  this  report,  the  undersigned  wishes  to  state  that,  in 
.  his  opinion,  the  results  of  the  investigation  of  the  Department  for 
Dependent  Children  in  the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School,  made  by  the 
Department  of  Research  of  the  St.  Louis  School  of  Social  Economy, 
should  not  have  been  embodied  in  the  report  of  the  Commission.  The 
reason  for  the  objection  is  that  the  Commission  is  not  responsible  for 
the  conduct  of  the  investigation  and  that  it  has  had  no  opportunity 
for  its  verification. 

C.  G.  RATIIMANN. 


4 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

Introduction . . .  7 

PART  I.  The  Care  of  Delinquent,  Dependent  and  De¬ 
fective  Children  in  St.  Louis .  10 

1.  Delinquent  and  Dependent  Children .  10 

(A)  The  Industrial  School .  12 

(1)  Historical  .  12 

(2)  Population .  14 

(3)  Cost  of  Maintenance .  17 

(4)  Administration  .  17 

(5)  Equipment  .  18 

(6)  Delinquent  Department .  19 

(7)  Maintenance  Department .  26 

(8)  Special  Study  of  the  Dependent  Population .  29 

(9)  Summary  of  Defects . .  36 

(B)  Other  Agencies  Caring  for  Delinquent  and  Dependent 

Children .  37 

1  Delinquent  Children .  37 

( 1 )  Missouri  Training  School .  37 

(2)  State  Industrial  Home .  37 

(3)  House  of  Detention .  38 

(4)  Probation  Office,  Juvenile  Court .  39 

2.  Dependent  Children .  40 

(1)  In  Private  Institutions: 

St.  Ann's,  the  Bethesda,  and  Colored  Orphans’ 
Home .  40 

(2)  Probation  Office,  Juvenile  Court .  42 

— 5 — 


Page 

2.  Defective  Children .  43 

(A)  Special  Classes .  43 

(1 )  Blind  .  43 

(2)  Deaf-mute  . 43 

(B)  A  Study  of  Feeble-Minded  Children  in  St.  Louis .  43 

Definitions  .  43 

Number  and  Classification .  45 

Missouri  Colony  for  Feeble-Minded .  48 

«■ 

Tabular  Statements .  49 

PART  II.  Comparison  of  Methods  in  Other  Cities  and 

States .  51 

1.  Delinquent  . ! .  51 

2.  Dependent .  55 

3.  Defective .  59 

part  hi.  Recommendations  for  the  Care  of  Delin¬ 
quent,  Dependent  and  Defective  Children  in 
St.  Louis .  61 

1.  Delinquent  .  62 

Organization  of  an  Institution .  64 

House  of  Detention .  68 

Juvenile  Court .  68 

Missouri  Training  School  and  State  Industrial  Home .  68 

2.  Dependent  .  69 

3.  Defective  .  73 

4.  Summary  of  Recommendations .  74 

«/ 

5.  Legislation .  75 

6.  Estimate  of  Cost .  76 

part  iv.  Laws. 

1.  Present  Laws  Relating  to  Public  Care  of  Children .  80 

2.  Laws  Proposed  by  the  Commission .  81 

—6— 


INTRODUCTION. 


Acting  under  the  provisions  of  ordinance,  the  Commission  has  under¬ 
taken  in  this  report  to  cover  every  phase  of  the  problem  of  the  care 
of  delinquent,  dependent  and  defective  children  by  the  city,  except 
preventive  agencies,  on  which  the  Commission  will  submit  a  supple¬ 
mentary  report.  The  investigations  were  begun  in  September,  1910. 

Members  of  the  Commission  have  visited  the  following  institutions 
for  children  in  Missouri : 

St.  Louis  Industrial  School. 

Missouri  Training  School  for  Boys,  Boonville,  Mo. 

The  Colony  for  the  Feeble-Minded  and  Epileptic,  Marshall,  Mo. 

State  Industrial  Home  for  Girls,  Chillicotlie,  Mo. 

McCune  Farm  for  Boys,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  and  the  following  insti¬ 
tutions  outside  the  state : 

St.  Charles  School  for  Boys,  St.  Charles,  Ill. 

Hudson  Home  for  Boys,  Cleveland,  0. 

House  of  Refuge,  Cincinnati,  0. 

State  Training  School  for  Boys,  Plainfield,  Indiana. 

Lyman  School  for  Boys,  AYestboro,  Mass. 

State  Agricultural  School,  Industry,  N.  Y. 

Massachusetts  School  for  the  Feeble-Minded,  Waverlv,  Mass. 

New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  and  Children’s  Village,  Dobb’s  Ferry, 
New  York. 

Philadelphia  House  of  Refuge  (both  boys’  and  girls’  depart¬ 
ments),  Glen  Mills  and  Darling,  Pa. 

Grossmann  School  for  the  PYeble-Minded,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

George  Junior  Republic,  Freeville,  N.  Y. 

The  Commission  has  consulted  authorities  in  Chicago,  Boston,  New 
York,  Buffalo,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  Cleveland,  Cincinnati  and 
Kansas  City,  among  whom  are  Mr.  Hastings  II.  Hart,  Director,  Depart¬ 
ment  of  Child  Helping,  Russell  Sage  Foundation ;  Mr.  Homer  Folks, 
President,  New  York  State  Probation  Commission;  C.  W.  Birtwell,  Sec- 


retary,  Boston  Children’s  Aid  Society;  Mr.  Parker  Field,  Secretary, 
Children's  Mission,  Boston,  Mass.;  Miss  Alice  Higgins,  Secretary  of  the 
Associated  Charities,  Boston,  Mass. ;  Miss  Mary  Boyle  O’Reilly,  Secre¬ 
tary,  Trustees  for  Children,  Boston,  Mass.;  Mr.  John  McCarthy,  Gen¬ 
eral  Agent,  Trustees  for  Children,  Boston,  Mass. ;  Mrs.  Martha  P.  Fal¬ 
coner,  Superintendent  of  the  Girls’  Department,  House  of  Refuge, 
Darling,  Pa.;  Mr.  F.  H.  Nibecker,  Superintendent,  Boys’  Department, 
House  of  Refuge,  Glen  Mills,  Pa.;  Mr.  Edwin  D.  Solenberger,  Secre¬ 
tary,  Children’s  Aid  Society,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Mr.  F.  C.  Weller,  Sec¬ 
retary,  Associated  Charities,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. ;  Mr.  Frederic  Almy,  Sec¬ 
retary  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ;  Hon. 
George  S.  Addarns,  Judge  of  the  Juvenile  Court,  Cleveland,  0. ;  Hon. 
E.  E.  Porterfield,  Judge  of  the  Juvenile  Court,  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  Dr. 
E.  L.  Mathias,  Chief  Probation  Officer,  Juvenile  Court,  Kansas  City, 
Mo. ;  Mr.  Bernard  Flexner,  Louisville,  Ivy. ;  Mr.  Franklin  Briggs, 
Industry,  N.  Y. ;  Mr.  Elmer  Coffeen,  Westboro,  Mass. 

The  Commission  has  attempted  to  examine  every  type  of  modern 
institution  for  the  care  of  delinquent  and  defective  children,  and  to 
ascertain  the  very  best  systems  of  care  for  dependent  children.  It  is 
fortunate  that  among  the  leaders  of  children’s  work  all  over  the  coun¬ 
try,  there  seems  to  be  a  pretty  close  agreement  as  to  the  chief  methods 
to  be  followed. 

This  has  been  evidenced  particularly  by  two  important  confer¬ 
ences  dealing  with  the  care  of  children — the  first,  the  so-called  White 
House  Conference,  called  by  President  Roosevelt  in  1908,  attended  by 
representative  workers  for  children  from  all  over  the  country;  and 
the  second,  the  First  Annual  Conference  of  Catholic  Charities,  held  in 
Washington  in  the  fall  of  1910.  The  conclusions  of  both  conferences 
in  regard  to  the  care  of  delinquent  and  dependent  children  were  prac 
tically  identical. 

The  Commission  sent  a  circular  letter  of  inquiry  to  about  150  per¬ 
sons  in  St.  Louis  conversant  with  the  local  care  of  delinquent,  depend 
ent  and  defective  children,  and  received  a  large  number  of  most  help¬ 
ful  replies.  These  replies  came  from  the  executive  officers  of  public 
and  private  institutions  for  children,  from  members  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  of  the  Industrial  School,  and  from  former  and  present  Juve¬ 
nile  Court  judges  and  officials,  from  officials  of  the  public  and  paro¬ 
chial  schools,  from  members  of  women's  clubs,  and  charitable  and  reli¬ 
gious  associations.  The  Commission  has  been  very  largely  aided  in 
coming  to  its  conclusions  by  the  opinions  and  facts  given  by  these  per¬ 
sons,  and  through  others  who  have  offered  verbal  suggestions. 


—8— 


The  Commission  desires  to  express  its  indebtedness  particularly 
to  the  St.  Louis  .School  of  Social  Economy,  which  furnished,  through 
the  Department  of  Research,  maintained  by  the  Russell  Sage  Founda¬ 
tion,  the  investigations  covering  the  dependent  children  at  the  Indus¬ 
trial  School,  and  the  feeble-minded  children  in  the  city,  and  which 
supplied  also  other  valuable  data. 

The  Commission  expresses  its  obligation  to  the  Civic  League  for 
the  use  of  the  complete  investigation  of  the  Delinquent  Department  of 
the  Industrial  School,  made  by  the  League’s  Social  Service  Committee, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  St.  Louis  School  of  Social  Economy,  during 
the  earlv  months  of  1910. 

t/ 


PART  I. 


THE  CARE  OF  DELINQUENT,  DEPENDENT  AND  DEFECTIVE 

CHILDREN  IN  ST.  LOUIS. 


1.  PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  CARE  OF  DELINQUENT  AND 

DEPENDENT  CHILDREN. 

At  the  present  time  and  for  many  years  past,  practically  all  of  the 
dependent  and  delinquent  children  for  whom  the  City  of  St.  Louis  is 
responsible,  have  been  cared  for  in  the  Industrial  School.  The  excep¬ 
tions  to  this  are  (1)  the  care  of  certain  delinquent  boys  at  the  State 
Training  School  at  Boonville,  and  the  care  of  certain  delinquent  girls 
at  the  State  Industrial  Home  at  Chillicothe,  for  whom  the  city  pays  a 
per  capita  sum;  (2)  the  care  of  foundlings  and  babies  under  three 
years  of  age  by  St.  Ann 's  Foundling  Asylum,  the  Bethesda  Home, 
and  the  Colored  Orphans’  Home,  for  whom  the  city  also  pays  a  month¬ 
ly  per  capita.  All  other  dependent  and  delinquent  children  between 
the  ages  of  three  and  sixteen  years  in  the  care  of  the  city,  are  housed 
at  the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School. 

For  the  benefit  of  a  complete  record,  a  rather  elaborate  study  of 
the  Industrial  School  is  herewith  given.  This  study  was  made  in  the 
spring  of  1910,  but  the  facts  then  stated  hold  good  for  the  present 
date.  It  will  serve  to  substantiate  the  argument  so  many  times  ad¬ 
vanced,  that  this  institution  is  utterly  inadequate  to  perform  its  func¬ 
tion,  and  will  also  furnish  a  basis  for  the  estimate  of  the  number  of 
dependent  and  delinquent  chldren  for  whom  the  city  will  have  to  pro¬ 
vide  in  the  near  future. 


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(A)  The  St.  Louis  Industrial  School. 


(1)  Historical: 

The  Industrial  School,  known  until  1905  as  the  “House  of 
.Refuge,”  occupies  a  tract  of  a  little  over  seventeen  acres  at  Osage 
street  and  Virginia  avenue. 

In  1853  a  city  ordinance  was  passed  for  the  establishment  of  the 
institution.  The  location  chosen  was  the  county  farm  which  had  been 
deeded  to  the  County  of  St.  Louis,  December  27th,  1838,  and  was 
known  as  the  “City  Commons.”  Bonds  for  the  sum  of  $8,000.00  were 
issued.  Some  of  this  money  was  used  to  put  temporary  additions  to 
the  buildings  already  on  the  land,  while  the  remainder  was  set  aside 
for  the  erection  of  a  permanent  building. 

In  1855  the  State  Legislature  passed  a  very  comprehensive  and 
liberal  act  (approved  February  28th),  which  authorized  and  directed 
the  City  Council  of  St.  Louis  to  provide  a  House  of  Refuge  for  the 
confinement  and  reform  of  juvenile  offenders;  and  which  established 
the  procedure  for  committing  and  releasing  children  and  the  method 
of  managing  the  institution.  This  act  was  amplified  by  the  passage 
of  two  ordinances,  one  approved  March  31st,  1855,  constituting  the 
House  of  Refuge  one  of  the  departments  of  the  city  government,  and 
the  other,  approved  December  12th,  1855,  specifying  certain  methods 
of  management  of  the  institution  not  covered  by  the  statute. 

The  permanent  building  contemplated  in  the  bond  issue  of  1853, 
was  not  completed  until  about  1860,  and  was  soon  afterwards  burned. 
The  Municipal  Assembly  then  passed  an  ordinance  for  the  issuing  of 
bonds  to  the  amount  of  $50,000.00,  for  rebuilding  and  furnishing  the 
House  of  Refuge.  AVith  the  exception  of  the  Girls’  House,  the  build¬ 
ings  erected  in  1860  are  those  still  in  use  today. 

The  statute  and  ordinances  all  indicate  that  the  House  of  Refuge 
was  originally  designed  for  the  reformation  of  juvenile  delinquents, 
although  the  ordinance  approved  December  12th,  1855,  provides  that 
neglected  children  may  be  admitted — “those  found  in  a  state  of  want 
or  abandonment,  or  grossly  neglected  or  ill-treated,  or  those  soliciting 
charity,  and  the  children  of  prostitutes.”  For  the  first  year  or  two, 
delinquents  were  the  class  most  generally  admitted.  In  1854,  the 
number  of  inmates  consisted  of  28  boys  and  12  girls.  By  1856  the 


total  number  of  children  had  grown  to  111.  The  superintendent  in 
charge  during  that  year  said  in  his  annual  report  that  a  large  number 
of  these  were  neglected  or  abandoned  children.  The  total  number  in 
the  institution  rapidly  rose  to  250,  but  fell  again  to  76  in  1860. 

Little  is  known  of  the  school  during  the  unsettled  period  between 
1860  and  1870.  In  the  Mayor’s  report  of  1872  the  criticism  was  made 
“that  the  whole  system  is  radically  defective,  principally  a  prison- 
house  for  the  juvenile  offenders,  where  compulsory  educational  disci¬ 
pline  assumes  the  form  of  punishment.”  Public  opinion  became  so 
aroused  over  certain  reports  of  ill-treatment,  that  the  General  Assembly 
in  1873  was  moved  to  enact  a  new  law  in  regard  to  the  management 
of  the  institution.  A  complete  change  in  management  was  made  and 
the  reports  of  the  new  Board  and  of  the  Mayor  indicate  that  conditions 
were  vastly  improved. 

No  great  change  occurred  in  the  House  of  Refuge  from  then  until 
1885,  when  a  separate  building  for  the  delinquent  children  was  erected. 
This  is  the  one  now  known  as  the  ‘‘Girls'  House.”  As  early  as  1873 
bonds  were  issued  for  the  construction  of  this  building.  One  reason 
for  the  long  delay  in  using  the  money  was  the  strong  feeling  that  the 
institution  should  be  reorganized  and  moved  to  the  country.  In  1879, 
the  Assembly  passed  a  bill  providing  for  the  change.  The  Mayor, 
however,  feeling  it  would  incur  too  great  expense,  vetoed  the  bill.  The 
matter  was  compromised  by  placing  the  new  building  on  the  old 
grounds.  The  result  was  ‘'the  greatest  event  in  the  history  of  the 
House  of  Refuge — the  occupancy  of  the  new  building  separating  the 
unfortunate  boys  and  girls  from  the  vicious  class.”  However,  the 
number  of  children  soon  outgrew  the  new  quarters  and  from  year  to 
year  came  the  plea  for  larger  buildings  and  for  better  equipment. 

It  became  increasingly  evident  that  the  institution  was  not  prop¬ 
erly  educating  the  children  in  it  s  care  and,  in  1903,  the  superintendent 
complained  of  the  low  standard  of  school  work  due  to  the  practical 
impossibility  of  securing  competent  teachers.  On  this  account,  some 
of  the  rooms  were  closed.  This  fact  resulted  in  an  agitation  which 
secured  the  enactment  by  the  Legislature  in  1905  of  an  act  permitting 
institutions  of  this  character  to  contract  with  the  Board  of  Education 
for  school  instruction.  Under  this  act,  a  thorough  up-to-date  school 
system  was  established  in  the  institution  in  1906,  under  the  control 
of  the  Board  of  Education. 

The  passing  of  the  ordinance  in  1905,  changing  the  name  of  the 
“House  of  Refuge”  to  “St.  Louis  Industrial  School,”  was  a  fitting 


1  Q 

to — ■ 


recognition  of  the  real  function  of  the  institution,  and  largely  removed 
the  stigma  which  had  attached  to  the  “Ref” — the  popular  name  of  the 
institution  among  boys. 


(2)  Population  of  the  School: 


The  number  of  children  cared  for  at  the  Industrial  School  during 
the  past  fifteen  years  has  not  increased  as  rapidly  as  might  be  expected. 
The  proportionate  increase  is,  indeed,  much  less  than  the  increase  in  the 
city’s  population.  The  city’s  population  lias  increased,  roughly,  35 
per  cent  since  1895,  while  the  average  population  of  the  last  three 
years  at  the  Industrial  School  is  only  22.7  per  cent  higher  than  the 
average  of  the  three  years  1894-1897.  Numerically  the  population 
of  the  institution  from  1895  to  1909  (with  the  years  1897-1901  ex¬ 
cepted,  for  which  there  is  no  published  report),  averaged  342,  there 
being  a  daily  average  of  327  in  1894-1895,  as  compared  with  a  daily 
average  of  399  in  1908-1909 — an  increase  of  only  72.  The  daily  aver¬ 
age  for  1909-1910,  has,  however,  been  higher — 433. 


POPULATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL. 


YEAR 

Total 

Del. 

Dep. 

Boys 

Girls 

Average 

Detention 

w. 

C. 

w. 

C. 

June  1,  1895* . 

296 

f  179 

104 

168 

47 

62 

19 

13  mos. 

Apr.  10,  1896 . 

257 

±161 

145 

150 

30 

53 

24 

18  “ 

Apr.  1,  1897 . 

331 

±161 

145 

205 

56 

58 

12 

15 

Apr.  9,  1901  . 

408 

232 

72 

81 

33 

14 

Apr.  9,  1902 . 

403 

§152 

100 

231 

81 

78 

13 

12  7-10  mos. 

1902-03  daily  average . 

290 

“123 

107 

178 

36 

66 

10 

1903-04  dailv  average . 

325 

“168 

157 

201 

48 

69 

7 

1904-05  daily  average . 

343 

“161 

182 

200 

57 

73 

1905-06  dailv  average . 

367 

1906-07  dailv  average. 

355 

1907-08  dailv  average . 

367 

1908-09  dailv  average . 

399 

“188 

211 

234 

62 

90 

13 

Mar  18  1910  . 

481 

“184 

297 

306 

59 

106 

13 

Jan  1,  1911 

549 

203 

346 

356 

55 

126 

12 

_ 

*The  number  on  specific  dates  from  1895  to  1902  is  given,  because  the 
records  were  not  kept  in  such  a  way  as  to  permit  of  ascertaining  the  daily 
average.  There  are  no  published  reports  of  the  Industrial  School  from 
1897  to  1901. 

fOf  283  committed. 
l;Of  306  committed. 

§Of  252  committed. 

“Partly  estimated  but  very  close  to  fact. 


—14 


There  were  296  children  in  the  institution  on  June  1st,  1895 ; 
about  185  of  these.were  delinquent  children  and  til  dependent.  (This 
is  estimated  from  the  record  of  commitments  during  the  year.)  The 
proportion  of  delinquent  children  in  the  school  from  1895-1903  was 
from  53  per  cent  to  63  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  This  large 
proportion  was  directly  due  to  the  lack  of  other  than  institutional 
treatment  of  delinquent  children.  Under  the  probation  method  of  the 
Juvenile  Court,  which  came  into  existence  in  1903,  many  more  chil¬ 
dren  were  left  with  their  parents  at  home,  and  the  proportion  of  de¬ 
linquent  children  was  therefore  reduced. 

On  this  account,  ever  since  1903,  the  number  of  delinquent  chil¬ 
dren  has  been  less  than  the  number  of  dependent  children.  The  pro¬ 
portion  in  April,  1910,  was  61.8  per  cent  dependent,  and  38.2  per  cent 
delinquent,  as  against  39.7  per  cent  dependent,  and  60.3  per  cent  delin¬ 
quent  in  1902,  and  36.7  per  cent  dependent,  and  63.3  per  cent  delin¬ 
quent  in  1895. 

In  point  of  actual  numbers,  the  delinquent  group  has  remained 
practically  the  same — the  population  January  1st,  1911,  of  203,  being 
only  15  more  than  the  previous  year  's  daily  average,  and  only  21  more 
than  the  estimated  number  of  delinquents,  June  1st,  1895  (179). 

The  dependent  children  have  more  than  doubled  in  number,  there 
being  a  daily  average  of  211  in  1908-1909  (346  on  January  1st,  1911), 
against  an  estimated  daily  number  of  100  to  150  in  the  years  1895 
to  1902. 

The  largest  number  given  in  the  previous  years  was  in  1901, 
when  there  were  408  children  in  the  institution — 232  white  boys,  72 
colored  boys,  81  white  girls,  and  33  colored  girls. 

The  delinquent  department  accommodates  comfortably  175  boys. 
There  have  been  as  many  as  200  during  the  past  three  years,  but  it 
can  usually  be  kept  down  to  150  or  160.  January  1st,  1911,  there  were 
180  delinquent  boys  in  the  school  and  23  delinquent  girls  in  the  main¬ 
tenance  department. 

The  maintenance  department  can  accommodate  300  to  350  chil¬ 
dren.  Its  numbers  have  very  largely  increased  the  past  two  years, 
owing  to  hard  times,  the  increased  cost  of  living,  and  such  direct 
causes  as  desertion  by  fathers. 

Four  thousand  seventy-seven  children  were  committed  to  the  In¬ 
dustrial  School  during  the  seven  years  ending  April,  1910,  an  average 


15 — 


of  582  a  year.  Three-fourths  of  these  came  through  the  Juvenile 
Court,  hut  as  delinquent  children  remain  a  comparatively  short  time 
(the  average  period  of  detention  and  training  being  four  months), 
that  number  does  not  show  so  conspicuously  in  the  average  daily  pop¬ 
ulation.  Dependent  children  committed  through  the  Board  of  Man¬ 
agers,  stay  a  much  greater  length  of  time  (an  average  of  eighteen 
months),  and  therefore  make  a  larger  showing. 

A  further  reference  to  the  table  will  show  the  figures  for  the 
past  ten  years.  It  will  be  seen  that  up  to  1909  and  1910,  the  total 
population  of  the  school  did  not  materially  increase,  the  Juvenile 
Court  having  reduced  the  number  of  delinquents,  while  the  number  of 
dependent  children  increased.  The  last  few  years  have  brought  to  the 
Industrial  School,  as  to  practically  all  other  institutions  caring  for  neg¬ 
lected  and  dependent  children,  a  much  larger  number  of  dependent 
children. 

The  reduction  of  t lie  delinquent  population,  through  the  Juvenile 
Court,  has  been  due,  in  a  large  measure,  to  the  result  of  the  probation 
method  and  also  to  a  systematic  co-operation  between  the  Court  and 
the  institution,  which  effects  the  release  of  a  child  from  the  school  as 
soon  as  his  record  and  home  permit  it.  This  system,  when  inaugurated 
in  1907,  relieved  the  institution  of  many  boys  committed  by  the  Court, 
who  had  been  neglected  in  the  institution  without  thought  of  looking 
up  relatives  to  assume  their  care.  The  homeless  older  colored  boys, 
of  whom  there  were  formerly  a  large  number,  have  been  released  and 
placed  on  farms  and  in  homes  through  the  efforts  of  the  colored  proba¬ 
tion  officer. 

The  character  of  the  delinquent  population  has  changed  radically 
within  the  past  five  years.  Instead  of  a  greater  proportion  of  children 
committed  for  larceny  and  serious  offenses,  the  greater  number  is  now 
committed  for  truancy  and  running  away  from  home.  In  other  words, 
the  enforcement  of  the  compulsory  attendance  law  and  the  Juvenile 
Court  law,  have  together  succeeded  in  reaching  children  before  they 
go  so  far  as  to  commit  the  more  serious  offences.  In  this  connection, 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  average  age  of  delinquent  boys  at 
the  Industrial  School  has  been  reduced  within  three  years  from  almost 
fourteen  years  to  twelve  years  and  ten  months. 

The  institution  so  far  as  the  delinquents  are  concerned,  is  very 
largely  what  might  be  called  a  parental  school. 


16 


(3)  Cost  of  Maintenance: 

The  total  annual  cost  of  maintaining  the  Industrial  School  * 
increased  from  $45,592.55  in  1894-1895,  to  $70,416.56  in  1908-1909,  and 
$62,656.59  in  1909-1910.  This  cost  of  maintenance  includes  also  re¬ 
pairs,  but  it  does  not  include  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  public  school 
at  the  institution,  for  which  the  Board  of  Education  has  expended 
$20,000.00,  or  more,  yearly  since  1906. 

Comparing  this  cost,  with  the  daily  population  of  the  school,  it 
will  he  seen  (see  table)  that  the  per  capita  daily  cost,  while  it  has 
varied  considerably,  according  as  money  was  spent  for  special  pur¬ 
poses,  has  averaged  45.2  cents,  the  lowest  being  38.2  cents  in  1894-1895, 
and  the  highest  52.1  cents  in  1907-1908,  when  extensive  repairs  were 
undertaken.  Adding  to  this  the  amount  spent  to  maintain  the  public 
schools  in  the  institution,  the  per  capita  daily  cost  is  increased  to  60 
cents  to  65  cents  (or  $4.20  to  $4.55  a  week),  which  is  as  high  as  in 
many  of  the  elaborate  modern  cottage  institutions, 

(4)  Administration: 

The  Industrial  School  is,  in  reality,  as  the  present  statistics  of 
population  indicate,  a  combination  of  two  institutions,  which  in  fact 
are  administered  separately — one  for  the  delinquent  and  one  for  the 


INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL. 


Year. 

Cost  of  Maintenance. 

Average  Daily 
Population. 

Per  Capita 
Daily  Cost. 

1894-95 . 

.  $45,592.55 

327 

38.2 

cents 

1895-96 . 

.  46.633.72 

283 

45.1 

a 

1836-97 . 

.  49,095.75 

303 

44.4 

a 

1901-02t . 

.  65,655.74 

381 

47.8 

it 

1902-03 . 

.  59,488.74 

312.5 

52 

i  i 

1903-04  . 

.  56,209.96 

325 

47.3 

it 

1904-05 . 

.  57,834.06 

343 

38.2 

it 

1905-06 . 

.  58,910.72 

367 

43 

it 

1906-07 . 

.  60,990.72 

355 

47 

ft 

1907-08 . 

.  69,876.28 

367 

52.1 

ft 

1908-09 . 

.  70,416.56 

399 

48.3 

ft 

1909-10 . 

.  62,656.59 

433 

39.7 

it 

Average . 

.  $58,559.28 

349 

45.2 

tt 

*The  land  on  which  the  School  is  located  (17.33  acres)  is  valued  at  $52,000.00, 
and  the  improvements  at  $150,000.00. 

tThere  are  no  published  reports  of  the  Industrial  School  for  the  years 
1897-1901. 

The  figures  of  cost  up  to  1905-06  include  instruction.  The  Board  of 
Education  has  since  spent  over  $20,000  yearly  for  instruction  in  the  institution. 


—17 


dependent  children.  The  administration  of  the  institution  is  in  charge 
of  a  Board  of  Managers  and  a  Superintendent,  appointed  by  the  Mayor, 
for  a  term  of  four  years.  In  the  administrative  work,  the  Superin¬ 
tendent  has,  as  assistants,  a  matron  and  an  assistant  superintendent. 

The  institution  employs  about  forty-five  persons,  nine  to  ten  of 
whom  are  teachers  in  the  various  trade  and  industrial  departments. 
In  addition  the  Board  of  Education,  which  conducts  the  regular  school 
work,  employs  at  the  Industrial  School,  one  principal  and  sixteen 
teachers ;  seven  of  these  teachers  are  in  the  delinquent  department  and 
nine  in  the  regular  school  and  kindergarten  of  the  maintenance  de¬ 
partment.  Of  the  employees,  about  one-half  are  employed  in  the  de¬ 
linquent  department,  although  the  number  of  children  to  be  attended 
to  is  less  by  half  than  those  on  the  maintenance  side.  This  is  due 
to  the  greater  care  and  training  demanded  by  delinquent  children. 
The  office  work  is  attended  to  by  three  employees.  The  general  super¬ 
vision  of  the  institution  is  accomplished  by  about  ten  persons;  night 
watchmen,  night  women  and  utility  men.  There  are,  in  addition,, 
three  nurses  in  tin;  hospital.  The  institution  employs  three  cooks  and 
two  engineers. 


(5)  Equipment: 

The  division  of  the  institution  into  the  delinquent  and  mainte¬ 
nance  departments  is  not  complete  either  physically  or  in  point  of  con¬ 
tact  among  the  children  themselves.  The  delinquent  boys  meet  depend¬ 
ent  boys  at  meal  time,  and  occasionally  in  the  yard  and  in  the  band 
(which  is  composed  largely  of  dependent  boys).  The  separation  of 
boys  and  girls  is  complete,  except  in  the  case  of  colored  delinquent 
girls  under  Id,  who  attend  school  with  the  boys.  The  nursery  children 
(that  is  those  under  9  years),  both  boys  and  girls,  are  together. 

Every  effort  is  made,  however,  to  keep  the  classes  as  distinct  as 
possible,  and  the  training  and  treatment  of  the  various  groups  is  spe¬ 
cialized  as  much  as  the  physical  equipment  of  the  buildings  will  permit. 

The  entire  ground  space  comprising  the  Industrial  School  consists 
of  17.33  acres.  A  little  over  three  acres  of  this  space  is  used  for  the 
buildings  and  playgrounds  of  the  children.  The  remaining  fourteen 
acres  are  occupied  by  the  Superintendent’s  residence,  greenhouses, 
stables,  gardens  and  orchard.  The  quarters  for  delinquent  boys  occupy 
about  one-lialf  of  the  space  used  for  buildings  and  playgrounds,  and 
are  enclosed  on  all  sides.  The  dependent  children,  of  course,  have  the 
freedom  of  the  grounds  under  proper  restrictions. 


18 


The  buildings  are  divided  into  five  groups:  (1)  The  main  three 
and  one-half  story  building,  containing  on  t lie  first  floor  offices,  wash¬ 
room,  small  swimming  tank ;  on  the  second  floor  domestic  science  room, 
sitting  room  and  library  for  dependent  boys;  on  the  third  floor,  dor¬ 
mitories  for  delinquent  white  boys  and  library;  and  on  the  top  floor 
dormitory  and  library  for  the  negro  boys;  (2)  a  two-story  building 
containing  on  the  first  floor  the  power-house,  laundry,  also  the  shoe 
shop  and  clothing  shop — divided  by  a  partition  from  the  girls’  cloth¬ 
ing  shop  and  the  hospital;  (3)  the  delinquent  department’s  two- 
story  building  containing  on  the  first  floor  bakery  and  playroom,  and 


LIBRARY  FOR  DELINQUENT  BOYS. 


above,  dining  room  and  manual  training  room ;  (4)  a  long  one- 

storv  building  containing  five  school  rooms  and  a  large  chapel;  a  port¬ 
able  school  building  of  one  room  completes  this  row;  (5)  the  girls’ 
house,  a  four-story  building  containing  on  the  first  floor,  dining  and 
play  rooms,  on  the  second  and  third  floors,  dormitories,  and  on  the 
fourth,  school  rooms. 

(6)  Delinquent  Department : 

The  yard  and  playground  for  the  delinquent  boys  is  enclosed  on 
one  side  with  a  three-story  brick  building,  on  another  side  by  the 
bakery  and  shoe  shop,  on  the  third  by  a  long  series  of  low  buildings, 


19— 


while  the  fourth  is  marked  off  by  a  very  high  hoard  fence.  All  the 
buildings  are  painted  white.  The  ground  is  cinder-covered. 

This  playground,  where  150  to  175  white  and  colored  delinquent 
boys  play,  has  ail  area  of  only  about  one  and  one-sixth  acres.  If  base 
ball  is  the  sport  of  the  afternoon,  there  is  room  for  only  one  or  two 
games.  In  bad  weather,  the  only  provision  for  play  under  shelter  is 
a  long  shed  running  along  one  side  of  the  yard,  and  a  gloomy  store¬ 
room  off  the  bakery,  which  can  be  pressed  into  service.  In  warm 
weather,  the  indoor  swimming  tank  (poorly  adapted  to  its  purpose) 
is  extensively  used. 

Separate  quarters  are  provided  for  the  white  and  colored  delin¬ 
quents  at  night.  Their  libraries  are  not  attractive  rooms.  The  furni¬ 
ture  of  both  consists  of  row  after  row  of  school  benches. 


Sleeping  Quarters: 

The  50  to  60  colored  boys  sleep  on  the  third  floor  of  the  boys’ 
dormitory  building,  in  a  room  47  feet  long,  42  feet  wide,  and  13  feet 


m- 


1  ■  li  .  i&M 


Bp?  I  l  *  ti  ** *^**“pii* 

f  5.  I  iSWltfijlIlllSJ  .*  -  •  r| 


lift 


fans 


BED-ROOM  FOR  DELINQUENT  BOYS. 

high.  The  100  to  120  delinquent  white  boys  sleep  on  the  floor  below 
in  a  room,  the  dimensions  of  which  are  84  feet  long,  42  feet  wide,  and 
13  feet  high.  The  air  space  in  both  rooms  is  barely  400  cubic  feet  for 


each  boy,  one-half  the  amount  ordinarily  required.  The  white  single 
beds  with  their  clean  coverings  in  both  of  these  rooms  are  well  kept, 
though  it  is  impossible  to  eradicate  vermin  in  an  old  building  with  so 
many  beds.  Some  of  these  beds  have  to  be  placed  close  to  the  windows 
which  makes  proper  ventilation  very  difficult.  The  problem  is  most 
serious  in  the  room  for  the  white  delinquent  boys,  as  the  windows  on 
one  side  of  the  room  open  into  the  library  and  the  back  hall. 

Beside  the  unhealthful  results  of  improper  ventilation,  there  is  a 
moral  danger  when  so  many  boys  of  all  ages  and  kinds,  sleep  in  the 
same  room.  Its  elimination  is  a  difficult  problem  in  all  congregate  in¬ 
stitutions.  The  report  of  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  says:  “When 
150  boys  sleep  together  in  one  room,  however  vigilant  the  night  watch¬ 
man  and  officer  occupying  the  adjoining  sleeping  quarters  may  be, 
it  is  practically  impossible  to  prevent  evil-minded  boys  from  corrupt¬ 
ing  some  of  their  companions/’ 


The  Dining  Room: 

All  the  boys,  white  and  colored  (except  the  ninety  odd  small  boys 
in  the  nursery  department),  eat  in  the  same  dining  room  at  the  same 


DINING-ROOM  FOR  DELINQUENT  AND  DEPENDENT  BOYS. 


-2 1  — 


time.  This  includes  the  one  hundred  or  so  dependent  or  neglected 
hoys  who  are  over  nine  years  of  age,  and  are  classed  in  the  mainte¬ 
nance  department.  They  are  marched  into  the  dining  room  in  the 
same  line  with  the  delinquents,  but  have  separate  tables.  The  colored 
hoys  also  have  a  separate  corner  to  themselves. 

The  food  is  plain,  but  of  good  quality.  As  is  the  custom  in  most 
congregate  institutions,  no  talking  among  the  boys  or  to  the  colored 
boys  waiting  on  the  tables  is  permitted  during  meal  time. 


Education  and  Training: 

The  boys  in  the  delinquent  department  arise  at  6:30  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  and  after  breakfast  go  to  school  at  8:00  o'clock.  The  boys  under 
fourteen  go  to  school  live  and  one-lialf  hours  a  day;  those  over  four- 
teen  go  to  school  four  hours  per  day,  and  work  in  the  bakery,  laundry, 
shoe  or  tailor  shops  four  hours  a  day. 

School  is  dismissed  at  12:00  noon,  and  dinner  is  served  at  12:15. 

There  is  a  session  of  school  for  those  boys  who  have  been  em- 

«/ 

ployed  in  the  morning,  and  a  short  session  for  the  boys  under  four¬ 
teen,  between  1  :00  and  5:00  o'clock. 

Supper  is  served  at  5:15,  and  after  a  short  time  at  play  in  the 
yard,  the  boys  go  up  to  the  libraries  at  6  :00  or  shortly  after. 

Bed  time  is  not  at  any  fixed  hour,  the  bovs  retiring  any  time  be- 
tween  8  :00  and  0  :00  p.  m. 

The  training  of  the  delinquent  boys  is  in  the  hands  of  both  the 
Board  of  Education  and  of  the  institution.  The  relation  of  the  insti¬ 
tution  to  the  Board  of  Education  school  is  the  same  as  the  relation  of 
a  parent  to  the  public  schools. 

The  school  year  at  the  Industrial  School  is  longer  than  that  in  the 
public  schools,  being  ten  months,  with  an  additional  six  weeks  of  sum¬ 
mer  school  (on  half  time).  This  leaves  three  weeks’  vacation  in  the 
summer  when  there  is  no  school  at  all. 

In  the  school  for  delinquent  boys,  there  are  five  grade  teachers 
for  white  bovs  and  two  for  the  colored.  There  is  also  a  manual  train- 

f 

ing  teacher,  who  gives  his  whole  time  to  that  work. 

The  grading  on  the  delinquent  side  is  not  as  rigid  as  in  the  pub¬ 
lic  schools,  because  the  instruction  tends  very  largely  to  be  individual. 
The  grades  taught  are  the  first  to  the  fifth,  with  occasional  pupils  in 
the  sixth  or  seventh.  Delinquent  children  are  graded  as  nearly  as  may 
be  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  regular  schools,  but  there  is  no  passing 
from  one  grade  to  another  at  the  end  of  the  quarter,  as  in  the  public 


_ 99 _ 


schools;  so  that  the  same  teacher  can  exert  a  continuous  influence  on 
a  boy  in  her  care. 

One  room  of  bovs  whose  stay  in  the  institution  is  likely  to  be 
short  is  frankly  treated  as  an  ungraded  room,  although  an  effort  is 
made  to  prevent  more  than  three  grades  being  represented  at  one  time 
in  the  room. 

White  and  colored  delinquent  boys  under  fourteen  years  of  age 
have,  as  far  as  possible,  the  regular  course  of  study,  with  about  four 
hours  a  week  of  manual  training  and  hand  work  in  the  form  of  wood¬ 
carving,  bench  work,  basket  weaving  or  clay  modeling. 

White  boys  over  fourteen  years  of  age  attend  school  only  four 
hours  a  day.  Colored  boys  over  fourteen  get  the  same  training  as 
white  boys  of  the  same  age. 

The  delinquent  white  girls  over  fourteen,  especially  those  who 
are  reported  as  immoral,  are  not  placed  in  the  regular  school  classes, 
but  are  given  constant  training  by  the  institution  in  the  tailor  shop  or 
kitchen.  Delinquent  white  girls  under  fourteen  are,  of  course,  in 
school  regularly,  as  are  the  few  colored  girls  under  that  age. 

Colored  girls  over  fourteen  are  almost  never  put  in  school  because 
“the  object  of  reforming  their  morals  is  not  furthered  by  having  them 
in  small  school  rooms  in  contact  with  boys  of  corresponding  age.” 
These  girls  are  occupied  entirely  in  housework,  under  the  supervision 
of  a  caretaker. 

In  every  department  of  the  school,  both  delinquent  and  mainte¬ 
nance,  the  number  of  pupils  to  a  teacher  does  not  exceed  thirty  or 
thirty-five,  as  against  fifty  or  fifty-five  in  the  regular  grade  schools.  In 
the  delinquent  department  the  attempt  is  made  to  keep  it  even  lower, 
and  most  of  the  time  during  the  past  two  years  the  number  has  aver¬ 
aged  twenty-five  or  less. 

The  instruction  at  the  Industrial  School  is  the  best  that  can  be 
given  the  children.  The  teachers  are  especially  selected  for  their 
adaptability  to  this  particular  class  of  children  and  receive  a  larger 
compensation  than  teachers  in  the  grades. 

For  the  past  year  or  two,  since  the  system  of  close  co-operation 
with  the  Juvenile  Court  was  inaugurated,  greater  insistence  has  been 
placed  on  individual  training,  in  order  to  reach  the  defects  of  each  boy 
or  girl.  A  great  deal  of  this  work  has  been  accomplished  out  of  school 
hours,  and  the  results  in  many  cases  have  been  most  gratifying,  indi¬ 
cating  the  value  of  personal  contact  of  the  right  sort,  even  under  a 
congregate  system. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  handling  the  delinquent  boys  at  the 


09 

Lo — • 


Industrial  School  is  the  lack  of  separation  outside  of  school  hours  and 
in  the  evening.  At  such  times  all  the  boys  are  allowed  to  play  in  the 
open  yard — fairly  good  boys  mingling  with  bad,  colored  with  white, 
big  with  little,  under  supervision  of  only  two  male  guards.  Well 
directed  play  activities  are  totally  lacking.  The  boys  are  merely 
watched  to  be  kept  out  of  mischief. 

The  amount  of  time  the  boys  spend  together  without  directed 
supervision  is  one  and  one-lialf  hours  a  school  day,  three  to  four  hours 
on  Saturday,  and  three  to  four  hours  on  Sunday.  There  are  also  two 
to  three  weeks  of  school  holiday  in  the  summer  time,  when  practically 
all  day  (except  for  the  older  boys  in  the  shops)  is  spent  playing  in  the 
yard. 

Being  thrown  together  in  this  way  is  particularly  injurious  in 
forming  intimate  companionships  which  are  likely  to  continue  outside 
of  school,  and  in  destroying  to  a  great  extent  the  results  of  the  school 
training. 


Summary  of  Defects  in  the  Training  of  Delinquent  Children  at  the 

Industrial  School. 

Boys : 

The  chief  defect  is  the  fact  that  all  kinds  of  boys  from  nine  to 
sixteen  years,  truants,  incorrigible  boys,  and  boys  with  long  and  bad 
records,  are  associated  together  without  supervision  much  of  their 
time. 

Second,  the  congregate  plan  forbids  anything  like  a  home  atmo¬ 
sphere  or  a  constant  individual  influence  on  a  boy  for  the  entire  time 
of  his  stay.  The  training  is  more  group  training  than  individual  in¬ 
struction.  There  is  an  absence  of  systematic  teaching  of  trades  and 
a  lack  of  a  definite  relation  between  the  training  given  by  the  Board 
of  Education  and  the  school. 

Third,  the  location  of  the  institution  in  the  city  necessitates  an 
enclosure  to  prevent  boys  from  running  away,  which  gives  the  institu¬ 
tion  somewhat  the  aspect  of  a  prison. 

Fourth,  the  presence  of  so  many  boys  together,  from  a  hygienic 
viewpoint,  necessitate  the  shaving  of  the  heads  of  many,  which  among 
t lie  boys  is  regarded  as  a  mark  of  the  criminal.  The  use  of  uniforms 
tends  also  to  differentiate  the  boys  from  11  outside”  boys  and  destroys 
the  feeling  of  individuality. 

Girls : 

The  delinquent  white  girls,  who  average  twelve  to  fifteen  in  num¬ 
ber,  are  housed  in  the  maintenance  department,  although  they  are 
kept  separate  from  the  maintenance  children.  The  separation  is  not 
as  complete  as  it  should  be,  and  their  training  lacks  the  variety  and 
freedom  it  should  have  under  the  best  svstems. 

There  has  been  an  average  of  eleven  delinquent  colored  girls 
at  the  Industrial  School  for  the  past  five  or  six  years.  The  instruction 
and  training  given  them  is  considerably  limited  and  the  problem  of 
proper  separation  from  the  other  girls  and  even  from  the  colored  boys, 
is  a  difficult  one. 


(7)  Maintenance  Department  of  Industrial  School: 

The  maintenace  department  consists  of  the  dependent  and  neg¬ 
lected  children  in  the  school,  whether  sent  by  the  Juvenile  Court  or 
the  Board  of  Managers.  These  children  are  housed  in  what  is  known 
as  the  “girls'  house”  (the  four-story  building  described  on  page.  .  .  .), 
and  also  on  one  floor  of  the  main  building,  underneath  the  dormitories 
for  delinquent  boys. 


GIRLS  HOUSE-DELINQUENT  AND  DEPENDENT  GIRLS  AND  ALL  BOYS 

UNDER  9  YEARS  OF  AGE. 

The  following  shows  the  provisions  for  the  various  groups  in  the 
maintenance  department,  and  the  amount  of  contact  between  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  the  various  groups. 

Boys : 

The  library  for  the  dependent  boys  is  underneath  that  for  the  de¬ 
linquent  white  boys,  but  in  comparison  is  an  attractive  one. 


—26— 


Iii  the  sleeping  room,  next  the  library  we  find  a  more  serious 
problem  than  in  the  case  of  the  delinquents.  In  a  room  60  feet  long, 
42  feet  wide,  and  13  feet  high,  sleep  100  or  more  boys.  This  means 
air  space  for  each  hoy  of  about  324  cubic  feet  (normal  requirement  of 
800  cubic  feet).  This  is  76  cubic  feet  less  than  the  amount  required 
in  the  very  poorest  lodging  houses  in  New  York  City. 

The  playground  for  these  one  hundred  or  more  boys  is  much 
smaller  than  that  for  the  delinquents.  It  comprises  a  little  over  one- 
fifth  of  an  acre.  There  is  one  advantage,  however,  it  does  open  out  on 
a  lawn,  and  the  boys  have  the  freedom  of  the  place.  There  are  few 
trees  on  the  whole  17.33  acres,  except  in  the  orchard. 

Classes  of  Children  in  the  “Girls’  House.” 

In  the  four-story  building  known  as  the  Girls’  House,  there  are  a 
greater  number  of  classes  of  children  than  in  the  boys’  dormitory. 
Here  sleep  and  eat,  all  in  the  same  building,  about  90  boys  and  70 
girls,  ranging  in  age  from  three  to  nine  years,  twenty-six  older  white 


KINDERGARTEN— THE  MOST  ATTRACTIVE  ROOM  IN  THE  INSTITUTION. 


girls  and  twelve  older  colored  girls.  Many  of  the  last  two  classes  be¬ 
long  to  the  delinquent  department. 

The  school  rooms  are  on  the  third  and  fourth  floors,  the  sleeping 
rooms  on  the  second  and  third,  and  the  dining  room  and  play  rooms 
on  the  ground  floor. 

The  Nursery  Department: 

The  nursery  department,  in  which  are  the  children  under  nine 
years  of  age,  has  a  large,  sunny  room  in  which  the  children  play. 
This  leads  out  to  a  yard  which  has  an  open  shed  with  swings  and  sand 
piles.  The  room  used  for  the  kindergarten  is  the  most  spacious  and 
attractive  in  the  whole  institution. 

The  children  sleep  in  two  large  rooms  below  the  kindergarten, 
in  row  after  row  of  little  white  cribs. 


The  Girls’  Department: 

The  older  white  girls,  delinquent  and  dependent,  sleep  in  two  ad¬ 
joining  rooms.  There  is  no  necessity  for  crowding  here  as  is  the  case 
in  some  of  the  other  departments.  The  dependent  white  girls  have 
a  dining  room  to  themselves. 


Provision  for  Colored  Girls : 

As  much  as  is  possible  with  children  of  two  races  living  in  the 
same  building,  the  colored  girls  (all  delinquent  with  one  exception  for 
the  past  two  years),  are  separated  from  the  others.  Those  under  four¬ 
teen  go  to  school  to  the  delinquent  side  with  the  boys.  They  have 
separate  eating  and  sleeping  quarters  and  also  separate  playgrounds. 
The  building  is  so  arranged  that  they  must  use  the  same  hallways  and 
passages. 


Education  and  Training  : 

For  the  maintenance  children,  almost  the  entire  education  and 
training  is  in  the  hands  of  the  school  of  the  Board  of  Education.  Al¬ 
most  none  of  the  dependent  children  are  put  at  house  work  or  trade 
work,  having  their  time  out  of  school  for  recreation.  A  large  number 
of  boys  over  nine  years  of  age,  however,  are  in  the  band  (of  which 
there  are  two  divisions).  This  band  is  a  means  of  musical  training  and 
is  a  form  of  discipline  of  distinct  benefit. 

The  instruction  for  maintenance  children  is  the  grade  work  of 
the  regular  schools,  with  the  addition  of  manual  training  for  the 


28— 


boys  and  domestic  science  for  the  girls  in  all  grades,  which  in  the 
other  public  schools  are  given  only  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades. 

The  maintenance  children  also  get  the  benefit  of  the  summer 
school,  having  only  a  three  weeks’  vacation. 

The  kindergarten  provides  for  children  between  six  and  seven 
years  of  age.  There  is  no  provision  for  the  training  or  education  of 
children  under  six,  of  whom  there  were  forty-one  in  March,  1910.  They 
have  a  large  playroom  in  charge  of  a  caretaker,  but  the  limitation 
placed  upon  the  Board  of  Education  by  the  constitution  forbids  any 
organized  instruction.  (This  situation  has  been  recently  remedied  by 
the  Board’s  decision  to  place  children  live  years  of  age  in  kinder¬ 
gartens.) 


(8)  Special  Study  of  the  Dependent  Population  in  the  Industrial 
School.  Report  made  by  the  School  of  Social  Economy,  Department 
of  Research,  1910.  (Abridged  by  the  Commission.) 

Dependent  children  are  sent  to  the  Industrial  School  by  two 
methods :  (1)  by  action  of  the  Juvenile  Court,  which  deals  largely 

with  the  neglected  cases  and,  (2)  by  action  of  the  Board  of  Man¬ 
agers  of  the  school,  which  deals  with  the  dependent  child  only.  Of 
this  latter  class  of  children  in  the  school,  a  detailed  study  has  been 
made. 

The  dependent  children  are  kept  only  in  the  “Maintenance  De¬ 
partment.”  In  order  to  commit  them  to  the  institution,  the  parents 
guardians  or  friends  of  each  child  appear  before  the  Board  of  Man¬ 
agers  to  tell  the  condition  of  the  family.  Records  are  kept  regarding 
each  child’s  age,  birthplace,  religion,  nationality,  and  cause  of  com¬ 
mit  mnit,  and  number  in  family,  but  practically  no  investigation  of  the 
truth  of  the  statements  is  made  through  personal  inquiry  at  the  home 
of  the  applicants. 

At  the  time  1  lie  investigation  was  made  (March  to  Ma}r,  1910), 
there  were  in  this  department  287  children,  90  boys  and  70  girls,  rang¬ 
ing  from  three  to  nine  years,  and  101  boys  and  26  girls,  over  nine. 
The  cases  of  389  children  were  copied  on  schedules  for  the  purpose 
of  the  investigation.  This  number  includes  the  287  in  the  “  Main¬ 
tenance  Department”  at  the  time  and  102  others  who  have  been  in 
the  institution  within  the  last  two  years. 

Of  these  389  cases,  the  investigator  was  able  to  look  up  by  visits 
to  the  addresses  given,  295.  In  21  of  the  94  cases  not  visited  the  par¬ 
ents  had  either  moved  from  the  city  or  the  child  had  been  in  the  insti¬ 
tution  so  long  that  no  record  had  been  kept  of  the  parents  or  guar- 


dian’s  home.  The  remaining  73  cases  the  investigator  was  unable  to 
cover  for  lack  *of  time.  One  hundred  thirty-four  of  the  295  whom 
the  investigator  tried  to  locate  had  moved  and  could  not  be  found. 


DINING-ROOM  FOR  DEPENDENT  GIRLS. 

Iii  9  other  instances  the  street  number  given  on  the  records  did  not 
exist. 

Therefore,  it  will  lie  seen  that  only  152  cases  of  the  389  were 
located,  and  information  secured  about  them  either  from  personal 
interview  with  parent  or  guardian,  or  from  a  near  neighbor;  in  some 
instances  from  both. 

Out  of  the  389,  t lie  records  show  258  to  be  Protestants,  129  Cath¬ 
olics;  the  religion  of  two  of  the  children  was  unknown.  The  con¬ 
venience  and  adequacy  of  Catholic  orphanages  in  St.  Louis  explains 
the  small  proportion  of  those  committed. 


Ages: 

The  investigation  shows  that  more  children  were  committed  at 
the  ages  of  five,  six,  seven,  and  eight  than  at  any  other  time,  the 
greatest  number  being  49  children  at  the  age  of  five.  Perhaps  it 
will  be  something  of  a  surprise  that  as  many  as  21  children  were 


—30— 


placed  in  the  institution  at  the  age  of  thirteen  or  over  for  dependency. 
Only  four  of  these  21  cases  were  located  and  in  each  instance  these 
boys  should  not  have  been  admitted. 

Causes  of  Commitment : 

The  causes  of  commitments,  as  given  on  the  records  of  the  school, 
are  shown  in  the  following  : 


Divorce  and  separation .  15 

Desertion .  158 

Half-orphans .  130 

Orphans .  14 

Sickness  . 28 

Other  causes .  44 


381 

The  small  number  of  children  committed  because  of  separation 
and  divorce  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  so- 
called  desertion  cases  are  really  separation  cases.  (In  one  instance 
where  the  wife  had  given  desertion  as  the  cause  for  putting  the  two 
boys  in  the  institution,  the  investigator  found  instead  that  it  was  a 
case  of  separation  by  the  woman  from  a  seemingly  hopeless  drunkard.) 
Although  separation  and  divorce  account  for  many  so-called  desertion 
cases,  yet  if  40  per  cent  give  this  cause  for  commitment,  desertion  must 
be  a  cpiite  prevalent  cause. 

Many  of  the  half-orphan  cases  have  mothers  out  in  service  often 
making  enough  to  help  to  support  the  child.  In  several  cases  where 
sickness  was  given  as  the  cause,  temporary  assistance  was  needed,  but 
the  children  remained  in  the  school  after  the  need  was  removed.  It  is 
surprising  to  And  that  only  14  children  out  of  the  389  are  orphans.  In¬ 
sanity  and  “ Father  in  the  workhouse  ”  are  the  chief  reasons  given 
under  the  head  "Other  causes,”  and  these  were  found  for  the  most 
part  to  be  correct. 

Length  of  Time  in  Institution : 

A  study  of  the  length  of  time  spent  by  each  child  in  the  institu¬ 
tion  was  made  by  copying  from  the  alphabetical  card-index  the  length 
of  stay  made  by  451  children  who  had  left  the  school  previous  to  the 
investigation.  Six  of  the  389  already  discussed,  who  have  been  in  the 
school  for  eight  or  more  years,  were  added  to  this  list,  making  a  total 
of  457  children. 


—31— 


LENGTH  OF  TIME  IN  INSTITUTION. 


Children. 


Children. 


I  week  . 

.  20 

1% 

2 

years . 

30 

2  weeks  . 

.  21 

u 

39 

9  << 

fj  . 

.  17 

2VZ 

3 

a 

13 

4  “  . 

.  41 

a 

19 

2  months . 

.  47 

314 

a 

3  “  . 

.  20 

4 

6  i 

13 

4 

.  22 

4i/2 

5 

i  i 

8 

rr  i  ( 

0  . 

.  19 

(C 

8 

6  “  . 

.  16 

5% 

6 

u 

3 

7  “  . 

.  18 

a 

9 

8  “  . 

.  16 

rr 

i 

a 

0 

9  “  . 

.  13 

8 

a 

.  6 

10  “  . 

.  15 

sy2 

10 

a 

1 

11  “  . 

.  8 

i  < 

1 

1  year  . 

.  9 

11 

a 

2 

11V2 

u 

.  1 

302 


155 


302 


Total .  457 

LENGTH  OF  TIME  IN  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  302  CHILDREN  REMAINING 

LESS  THAN  A  YEAR  (See  Above). 


Under  1  month . 

Children. 
.  99 

Under 

H 

i 

months .... 

Children. 
.  241 

“  2  “  . 

.  146 

i6 

8 

(6 

.  257 

<<  g  f( 

.  166 

a 

9 

a 

.  270 

“  4  “ 

.  188 

n 

10 

a 

.  285 

“  5  “  . 

.  207 

<< 

11 

a 

.  293 

“  6  “  . 

.  223 

u 

12 

a 

.  302 

If  the  admittance  of  20  of  these  children  remaining  less  than  a 
week,  and  99  less  than  a  month  had  meant  their  imperative  tempo¬ 
rary  need,  or  had  their  leaving  meant  that  desirable  homes  had  been 
found  for  them,  this  would  be  to  the  credit  of  the  institution,  but  few 
belong  to  the  former  class,  and  none  to  the  latter.  In  the  main  the 
cases  are  those  of  parents  having  made  an  experiment  of  placing  the 
children  in  the  school  and,  finding  them  dissatisfied,  of  taking  them 
home. 

As  an  instance,  the  institution  received  from  a  father  three  chil¬ 
dren  who  stayed  only  one  day.  The  record  states  his  “wife  is  dead.” 
From  this  same  wife,  however,  the  investigator  learned  that,  night 
coming,  she  wanted  her  children  and  went  for  them.  This  occurred 
two  years  ago.  If  the  mother  had  not  happened  to  get  homesick  for 
the  children,  there  is  a  possibility  that  the  city  would  be  supporting 
them  now. 

A  calculation  of  the  average  time  spent  by  a  child  in  the  institu¬ 
tion  from  457  cases,  including  the  166  who  stayed  less  than  three 


months,  shows  it  to  be  one  year  and  six  months.  This  is  six  times  as 
long  as  the  average  in  the  Michigan  State  School,  and  three  times  as 
long  as  that  in  the  Minnesota  School — both  excellent  institutions. 

The  average  length  of  time  for  children  spending  six  months  or 
over  in  the  institution  is  two  years  and  three  months.  At  present, 
since  people  have  become  aroused  to  the  difficulty  an  institutionalized 
child  encounters  going  out  into  the  world,  it  is  a  serious  reflection  on 
our  system  that  250  average  a  stay  of  two  years  and  three  months  in 
an  institution.  Yet,  three  of  these  children  have  been  in  the  Industrial 
School  eight  years,  one  ten  years;  another  eleven  and  one-lialf  years. 

The  last  mentioned  boy  was  seen  by  the  investigator.  It  was  learned 
that  when  a  baby  of  three  his  mother  boarded  him,  and  in  six  weeks 
after  providing  for  him  thus,  abandoned  him.  The  woman  in  charge 
of  the  child,  after  keeping  the  boy  a  short  time  and  not  finding  his 
mother,  put  him  in  the  Industrial  School.  He  is  a  fine  boy  of  fourteen, 
and  one  for  whom  a  society  for  placing  out  children  would  have  little 
difficulty  in  finding  a  good  home.  An  estimate  of  the  boy’s  expense  to 
the  city,  taking  as  a  basis  the  41  cents  per  day  given  in  the  annual 
report  of  the  Industrial  School  for  1908  as  the  average  daily  expense 
for  each  child,  shows  that  he  alone  has  cost  the  city  $1,720.97.  Even 
if  no  free  home  could  have  been  found  for  him,  which  is  unlikely,  the 
city  could  have  saved  $638.97  on  this  child  alone  by  boarding  him  out 
at  $1.75  a  week,  the  rate  paid  in  other  cities  for  like  cases. 

A  half-witted  girl  and  a  boy  with  epilepsy,  have  both  been  in  the 
institution  eight  years.  These  children  should  have  been  cared  for  at 
Marshall. 

Number  from  Each  Family: 

The  number  of  children  in  each  family  who  become  dependent 
on  the  city  affords  an  interesting  group  of  facts. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  children  in  the  institu¬ 
tion,  now  or  formerly,  from  each  family  represented  in  the  group  of  # 
the  389  studied. 


Number 

Number 

Families. 

Children. 

1 

2 

child  . 

.  62 

62 

children  . 

.  76 

152 

3 

children . 

.  35 

105 

4 

children . 

.  15 

60 

5 

children  . 

.  4 

20 

6 

children . 

.  1 

6 

193  405 

Some  families  having  only  one  or  two  children  in  the  Industrial 
School  now,  have  previously  had  others  there  who  were  taken  out 


—33 


upon  reaching  working  age.  In  this  case  of  the  six  children  from  one 
family,  the  mother  is  insane;  t lie  father  not  located.  His  neighbors  of 
earlier  days  say  he  is  steady  and  industrious.  If  this  is  true,  it 
would  have  been  well  to  hold  him  responsible  for  his  children’s  support. 
The  total  of  405  indicates  that  16  children  in  excess  of  the  389,  were 
members  of  the  same  families  formerly  in  the  institution. 

In  one  of  the  four  families  with  five  children,  the  parents  were 
not  seen;  two  other  families  could  not  be  located;  the  fourth,  a  widow, 
with  a  daughter,  was  out  working  at  the  time  of  the  call.  A  neighbor 


BED-ROOM  OF  DEPENDENT  GIRLS. 

gave  the  account,  however,  that  the  woman’s  father,  mother  and 
mother-in-law  are  in  comfortable  circumstances,  the  latter  owning  a 
corner  home  on  a  good  street  in  South  St.  Louis. 

In  the  group  of  fifteen  families  listed  with  four  children,  two 
were  not  visited  and  six  could  not  be  located.  Five  of  the  seven  found 
were  clearly  able  to  support  their  children  at  home.  One  of  the  re¬ 
maining  two  really  worthy  families  with  four  children  in  the  insti¬ 
tution  needed  temporary  aid  only.  Three  children  were  brought  home 
after  a  few  days.  One,  however,  objected  to  returning  and  has  been 


34 


in  the  institution  a  year  and  ten  months.  The  other  worthy  family 
gave  desertion  as  the  cause  on  the  record,  but  the  investigator  found 
the  cause  to  be  sickness  of  the  father.  Although  the  city  has  been  and 
was  then  supporting  four  children  for  the  family,  the  mother  had  a 
baby  three  months’  old  in  her  arms. 

The  following  summary  table  of  the  complete  investigation  gives 
the  number  of  children  properly  placed  in  t lie  institution  and  those 
considered  unworthy : 

Number  of  cases  visited .  295 

Number  of  cases  not  located . .  143 

Number  of  cases  found, .  152 

Number  of  worthy  cases  found .  45 

Number  of  unworthy  cases  found .  107 


Percentage  of  located  cases  found  to  be  unworthy,  70  per  cent. 

This  means,  in  brief,  that  of  the  152  cases  found,  70  per  cent  were 
of  children  belonging  to  families  able  to  support  them. 

Of  the  45  cases  recorded  as  worthy,  and  where  the  parents  wanted 
to  care  for  their  children  but  were  unable  to  do  so,  the  causes  for  the 
commitments  will  be  found  in  the  following  table : 

Desertion  .  13 

Sickness  .  22 

Half-orphans  .  5 

Father  in  Penitentiary .  4 

Separation  of  Parents . 1 

In  4  of  the  13  cases  of  desertion,  the  investigator  learned  that 
the  mothers  were  immoral.  Nine  of  the  cases  needed  temporary  aid 
only,  and  were  returned  to  their  families  in  from  two  weeks’  to  three 
months’  time.  One  family,  which  placed  three  children  because  of 
sickness,  has  not  been  able  to  take  them  home  because  the  step-father 
since  lost  his  leg  in  an  industrial  accident.  In  each  of  the  other 
cases,  the  half-orphans,  those  with  fathers  in  the  Penitentiary,  and  in 
the  one  separation  case,  the  mother  is  working  hard,  trying  to  do  her 
best. 

Summary  of  Defects  in  the  Care  of  Destitute  and  Neglected  Children 

at  the  Industrial  School. 

1.  The  record-keeping  at  the  Industrial  School  is  faulty  in  that 
the  data  given  by  parent  or  guardian  are  not  verified. 


35— 


2.  Seventy  per*  cent  of  eases  located  were  not  in  need  of  institu¬ 
tional  care. 

3.  The  average  time  spent  in  the  institution  is  one  year  and  six 
months,  as  against  three  months  in  Michigan  and  five  months  in  Min¬ 
nesota.  The  average  for  those  staying  over  six  months  is  two  years 
and  three  months,  some  children  having  stayed  seven,  eight,  ten  and 
eleven  years. 

4.  The  chief  difficulty  in  the  care  of  these  destitute  and  neg¬ 
lected  children  is  a  lack  of  home  atmosphere,  and  no  opportunity  to 
cultivate  those  traits  of  character  which  come  from  the  discipline  of 
tin*  small  home  group.  The  training  is  group,  not  individual  training. 
The  contact  of  these  children  with  the  delinquent  children,  while  not 
frequent  enough  to  work  any  permanent  harm,  is  undesirable  at  any 
time. 

5.  The  institution,  with  its  physical  limitations,  cannot  give  these 
children  proper  physical  care  or  accommodation.  The  opportunity  of 
developing  healthy  bodies  and  active  minds  is  lacking. 


(9)  Summary  of  Defects  of  the  Whole  Institution: 

The  history  and  description  of  the  Industrial  School  bring  out 
the  following  significant  facts: 

1.  The  buildings  of  the  institution  were  built  fifty  years  ago; 
they  have  been  added  to  but  little  since;  and  in  construction  and  ar¬ 
rangement  they  are  entirely  unsuited  to  the  care  of  over  500  children 
of  so  many  different  classes. 

2.  There  are  housed  in  this  institution,  delinquent  children,  boys 
and  girls,  colored  and  white,  and  dependent  children  of  the  same 
classes,  making  a  total  of  eight  different  classes  of  children  to  be 
provided  for.  Among  the  delinquents,  much  further  subdivision  than 
this  is  recognized  as  necessary.  The  dependent  children  should  not 
be  in  the  same  institution  with  the  delinquent. 

The  combination  of  the  two  defects  above  mentioned  makes  an 
institution  which  with  difficulty  accomplishes  its  purpose.  It  denies 
to  the  children  in  the  first  place,  a  proper  separation  of  the  different 
classes;  secondly,  Hie  advantages  of  small  group  or  home  or  individual 
training,  and  in  the  third  place,  sufficiently  healthful  and  attractive 
surroundings. 


—36— 


The  location  in  the  city  necessitates  a  small  play  space,  and  re¬ 
stricts  freedom  to  a  great  degree,  denying  especially  to  delinquent 
children  that  out-of-door  farm  training  which  is  recognized  as  most 
beneficial,  from  the  experience  of  such  institutions  in  other  communi¬ 
ties. 


The  trade  training  given  at  the  school  is  limited  by  a  lack  of  facil¬ 
ities,  and  must  he  directed  largely  to  supplying  the  needs  of  the  insti¬ 
tution,  not  to  training  the  children. 

These  are  the  chief  defects  of  the  institution,  the  detailed  defects 
having  appeared  in  the  body  of  the  report  as  given. 


(B)  Other  Agencies  Caring  for  St.  Louis’  Delinquent  and 

Dependent  Children. 

1.  Delinquents: 

(1  &  2)  Missouri  Training  School  and  State  Industrial  Home: 

The  institutions  referred  to  previously  as  caring  for  St.  Louis 
children  who  have  violated  the  law  and  who  are  in  the  hands  of  the 
courts,  are  the  Missouri  Training  School  for  Boys  at  Boonville,  Mo., 
and  the  State  Industrial  Home  for  Girls  at  Chillicothe,  Mo.  Children  are 
admitted  to  these  two  institutions  only  through  the  Juvenile  or  Crim¬ 
inal  Courts,  and  are  usually  not  sent  to  them  until  all  other  means  for 
their  reform  have  been  exhausted.  Through  the  increased  efficiency 
of  the  Juvenile  Court  and  Industrial  School,  the  number  of  commit¬ 
ments  to  the  Missouri  Training  School  have  been  considerably  re¬ 
duced,  and  with  further  efficiency  of  both  court  and  school,  the  num¬ 
ber  can  be  reduced  even  more. 

The  following  shows  the  daily  average  number  of  St.  Louis  chil¬ 
dren  in  the  institutions  in  the  last  five  years: 


MISSOURI  TRAINING  SCHOOL. 


STATE  INDUSTRIAL  HOME  FOR 
GIRLS. 


Boonville,  Mo. 

Average  Number 


Year.  of  Children. 

1906 .  128.6 

1907  .  107.8 

1908  .  132.1 

1909  .  132.2 

1910  .  96.7 


Chillicothe,  Mo. 

Average  Number 


Year.  of  Children. 

1906  .  5.9 

1907  .  10.2 

1908 .  18.2 

1909  .  H.2 

1910  .  20.8 


The  following  has  been  the  annual  cost  to 
the  children  at  those  institutions  during  the  last 


the  city  for  keeping 
five  years,  at  a  rate 


of  $120.00  a  year  for  each  hoy  at  Boonville,  and  $150.00  a  year  for 
each  girl  at  Cliillicothe. 


MISSOURI  TRAINING  SCHOOL. 
Boonville,  Mo. 


Year.  Cost. 

1906  .  $15,432.54 

1907  .  12,938.49 

1908  .  15,851.12 

1909  .  15,625.92 

1910  .  11,611.44 


STATE  INDUSTRIAL  HOME  FOR 
GIRLS. 

Chillicothe,  Mo. 


Year.  Cost. 

1906  .  $  885.43 

1907  .  1,522.95 

1908  .  2,734.47 

1909. .  1,677.58 

1910 .  3,136.37 


The  Missouri  Training  School  at  Boonville  is  an  institution  occu¬ 
pying  between  400  and  500  acres  near  the  town  of  Boonville,  and 
the  buildings  are  large  brick  cottages,  placed  rather  close  together 
accommodating  about  fifty  boys  each.  The  daily  population  of  the 
school  averages  close  to  500.  The  cottages  are  usually  over-crowded, 
the  one  for  colored  boys  averaging  more  than  125.  Conditions  at 
the  school  are  not  what  they  should  be,  and  it  is  not  in  spirit  or  in 
fact  an  institution  with  an  educational  program.  Many  of  the  boys 
are  too  old  for  the  purpose  of  reform-school  education.  The  insti¬ 
tution  is  physically  in  a  bad  condition,  and  suffers  from  lack  of 
funds  for  the  proper  care  of  its  inmates.  It  is  not  an  institution  to 
which  a  boy  may  be  committed  with  any  assurance  of  having  intel¬ 
ligent  means  adopted  for  his  individual  reformation  and  education. 

The  State  Industrial  Home  for  Girls  at  Chillicothe  accommodates 
220  to  225  girls,  and  is  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  Missouri  Training 
School.  The  girls  are  housed  in  large  cottages;  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  home  life ;  the  institution  is  kept  in  splendid  physical  shape, 
and  the  girls  have  a  fair  amount  of  schooling  and  training. 

There  is  another  State  institution  in  process  of  organization,  which 
will  care  for  delinquent  colored  girls,  to  be  known  as  the  “  State 
Industrial  Home  for  Negro  Girls,”  authorized  by  the  Legislature 


of  1909. 

(3)  House  of  Detention: 


It  may  be  well  to  take  notice  here  of  the  House  of  Detention  in 
St.  Louis,  now  located  at  No.  1226  Clark  avenue,  a  building  which 
serves  largely  as  a  means  of  confinement  for  children  awaiting  hear¬ 
ing,  who  cannot  safely  be  released  to  relatives.  Its  maintenance  is 
required  by  the  Juvenile  Court  act,  which  prescribes  that  children 
awaiting  hearing  must  be  kept  in  quarters  separate  from  adults.  It 
is  at  present  operating  under  a  city  ordinance. 


-38- 


The  following  is  the  monthly  average  of  children  detained  in 
the  House  of  Detention  from  April  to  December,  19.10. 

CHILDREN  DETAINED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  DETENTION  FROM 

APRIL  1  TO  DECEMBER  31,  1910. 


Total 

Boys 

Girls 

White 

Colored 

White 

Colored 

April . 

98 

67 

18 

9 

4 

May.  . . 

130 

80 

30 

14 

6 

June . 

104 

67 

22 

11 

4 

July . 

126 

81 

21 

17 

7 

August . 

122 

87 

15 

15 

5 

September . 

106 

66 

24 

12 

4 

October . 

100 

73 

17 

8 

2 

November . 

74 

52 

8 

11 

3 

^December . 

75 

43 

22 

6 

4 

Total  39  weeks . 

935 

616 

177 

103 

39 

Average  number  per  week . 

23.9 

15.8 

4.5 

2.6 

1.0 

Average  number  per  day . 

3.4 

COST  OF  MAINTAINING  THE  HOUSE  OF  DETENTION. 

1906-1907  1907-1908  1908-1909  1909-1910 

$1,256.15*  $1,536.59*  $5,938.66  $5,302.15 


The  present  House  of  Detention  is  a  converted  three-story  dwell-  . 
ing  house,  built  many  years  ago,  and  although  it  has  been  extensively 
repaired,  it  is  difficult  to  keep  clean,  is  unsanitary,  and  a  fire-trap. 

It  has  eleven  rooms  and  basement,  but  t lie  space  is  so  small  that  the 
children  have  to  spend  the  day  in  their  bed-rooms,  and  there  cannot 
be  proper  separation  or  supervision  of  children  during  the  period  of 
their  detention.  The  institution  is  as  well  conducted  as  could  be  ex¬ 
pected,  but  for  some  years  the  city  will  have  as  much  need  for  an 
institution  of  this  sort  as  at  present,  and  the  Commission  thinks  it 
should  be  properly  provided  for.  ('See  page  68  for  recommenda¬ 
tions.) 

(4)  Probation  Work: 

The  problem  of  the  care  of  delinquent  children  cannot  be  passed 
without  a  statement  of  the  function  of  the  Probation  Office  of  the 
Juvenile  Court,  which  has  been  the  means  of  reducing  the  delinquent 
population  at  the  Industrial  School  during  the  past  seven  years, 
since  the  inauguration  of  the  Court  in  1903.  The  probation  method 
by  which  children  who  are  found  to  have  violated  law  are  allowed 
to  go  back  to  their  homes,  under  the  careful  and  thorough  supervi- 

*Portion  of  the  fiscal  year  only. 


-39- 


sion  of  a  probation  officer,  has  resulted  in  preventing  a  great  many 
commitments  to  institutions.  The  probation  work  of  the  Juvenile 
Court  has  gained  with  great  rapidity,  and  the  system  of  caring  for 
children  on  probation  is  efficient,  although  greatly  handicapped  by 
too  few  officers  to  look  after  the  large  number  of  children. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  officers  each  year  in 

the  Juvenile  Court  since  1903,  with  the  average  number  of  children 

in  the  care  of  each  officer  during  that  period,  and  the  total  number 

of  children  in  the  care  of  the  office  each  year: 

«/ 


YEAR 

Number  of  Offi¬ 
cers  Doing 
Probation  Work 

Number  of  Children  Under 
Supervision 

Average  in  Care 
of  Each  Pro¬ 
bation  Officer 

Total 

Delin¬ 

quent 

Neglected 

Jau. 

1,  1904 . 

3 

371 

371 

123 

Jan 

1905 . 

3 

180 

180 

60 

Jan 

1906 . 

4 

200* 

50 

J  an 

1907 . 

4 

200* 

50 

Jan. 

1908 . 

3 

206 

125 

81 

68 

Jan. 

1909 . 

6 

626 

538 

88 

104 

Jan. 

1910 . 

8 

961 

654 

307 

120 

Jan. 

1911 . 

8 

1333 

824 

509 

167 

It  is  conceded  everywhere  that  one  probation  officer,  however 
diligent  he  may  be,  is  not  capable  of  caring  competently  for  more 
than  100  delinquent  children,  and  fewer  children,  if  they  be  neg¬ 
lected,  in  which  case  entire  families  need  the  painstaking,  watchful 
guidance  of  a  probation  officer.  The  probation  officers  of  the  Court  tes¬ 
tify  uniformly  that  they  would  be  able  to  save  many  more  cases  from 
commitment  to  institutions  had  they  each  fewer  children  to  handle. 
The  present  average  of  167,  with  a  large  proportion  of  neglected  chil¬ 
dren,  is  excessively  high.  The  saving  in  commitments  to  institutions 
is,  of  course,  a  saving  in  money.  The  probation  system  is  at  present 
doubtless  saving  the  city  a  large  sum  of  money,  which  cannot  be  ex¬ 
actly  computed.  The  method  of  care  and  supervision  in  the  home 
is  bound  to  lessen  the  expense  of  maintaining  institutions. 


2.  Dependent  Children:^ 

The  foundlings  and  babies  under  the  age  of  three  years  who 
become  the  city’s  charges,  are  cared  for  at  St.  Ann’s,  the  Bethesda, 

^Estimated;  no  report. 

t:A  census  of  all  the  children  in  private  institutions  in  St.  Louis  and  St. 
Louis  County,  made  in  December,  1910,  shows  a  total  of  3,726,  of  whom  1,110 
were  in  Protestant  institutions,  and  2,616  in  Catholic  institutions.  Of  the 
Protestant  children,  1,071  were  white  and  39  colored.  This  census  was  made 
by  the  Department  of  Research,  School  of  Social  Economy,  and  includes  all 
dependent  and  neglected  children  in  private  institutions  in  the  City  and  County. 


-40- 


or  the  Colored  Orphans'  Home,  according  to  race  or  religious  affilia¬ 
tion,  so  far  as  it  can  be  determined.  When  religious  affiliation  can¬ 
not  be  determined,  foundlings  discovered  north  of  Olive  street  are 
sent  to  St.  Ann’s,  and  those  found  south  of  Olive  street  to  the 


Bethesda. 

The  following  is  an  exhibit  of  the  number  of  babies  sent  to  the 
three  institutions  for  the  last  live  years,  together  with  the  cost  to  the 
city  at  a  rate  of  $12.00  per  month  a  child: 


FOUNDLINGS 

PLACED 

BY  THE 

CITY  IN 

ST.  ANN’S— 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Deaths. 

Cost  per  annum, 
for  fiscal  years 
ending  APRIL. 

1905 . 

23 

9 

32 

28 

1906 . 

15 

4 

19 

15 

$2,595.22 

1907 . 

12 

15 

27 

17 

1,325.00 

1908 . 

11 

11 

22 

18 

1,619.32 

1909 . 

9 

5 

14 

8 

1,835.91 

1910 . 

3 

5 

8 

*  5 

1,567.28 

73 

49 

122 

91 

BETHESDA— 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Deaths. 

Cost  per  annum, 
for  fiscal  years 
ending  APRIL. 

1905 . 

20 

15 

35 

2 

1906 . 

18 

10 

28 

2 

$4,856.81 

1907 . 

10 

11 

21 

2 

4,783.71 

1908 . 

7 

14 

21 

7 

3,441.30 

1909 . 

10 

3 

13 

4 

2,689.15 

1910 . 

7 

7 

14 

1 

2,742.03 

• 

72 

60 

132 

18 

COLORED  ORPHANS’  HOME— 

Cost  per  annum, 
for  fiscal  years 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Deaths. 

ending  APRIL. 

1905 

2 

5 

rr 

{ 

4 

1906 . 

3 

4 

7 

9 

$  594.30 

1907 . 

3 

7 

10 

7 

364.26 

1908 . 

2 

4 

6 

5 

730.97 

1909 . 

3 

3 

1 

474.25 

1910 . 

1 

1 

1 

138.14 

13 

21 

34 

20 

TOTALS 

FOR  SIX 

YEARS 

ENDING 

APRIL,  1 

910. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Deaths.  Cost. 

St.  Ann’s . 

73 

49 

122 

91 

$  9,700.25 

Bethesda . 

72 

60 

132 

18 

20,291.79 

Colored  Home .  .  . 

12 

21 

34 

20 

2,455.30 

158 

130 

288 

129 

$32,447.34 

-41- 

The  total  number  committed  in  the  year  ending  April,  1910,  is 
seen  to  be  only  23,  at  a  cost  to  t lie  city  with  those  previously  sent  and 
still  in  the  institutions,  of  $4,447.45. 

When  these  children  attain  the  age  of  three  years,  they  are  either 
placed  out  in  foster  homes,  sent  to  the  Industrial  School  through  the 
Board  of  Managers  or,  in  the  case  of  St.  Ann’s,  sent  on  to  institu¬ 
tions  for  older  Catholic  children,  St,  Mary’s  caring  for  the  girls, 
and  St,  Joseph’s  for  the  boys.  The  city  ceases  any  payments  when 
the  children  arrive  at  the  age  of  three  years. 

St,  Ann’s  Foundling  Asylum,  5301  Page  avenue,  is  conducted  by 
the  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  the  babies  are  cared  for  both  by  them 
and  by  trained  nurses.  The  death  rate  in  the  institution  is  very 
high  (74.5  per  cent),  as  in  many  foundling  institutions.  (See  table.) 

The  Bethesda  Foundling  Home,  3551  Vista  avenue,  is  a  private 
charity  under  Protestant  control.  The  death  rate  in  Bethesda,  at  least 
among  the  city’s  charges,  is  unusually  low  (13.6  per  cent)  for  an  insti¬ 
tution  for  foundlings. 

The  Colored  Orphans’  Home  is  a  small  institution  located  at 
4316  Natural  Bridge  Hoad,  housing  35  to  40  children,  ranging  from 
one  day  to  twelve  or  thirteen  years.  The  death  rate  among  the 
city  charges  is  high  (58.8  per  cent). 

For  recommendations  in  regard  to  the  care  of  this  group  of 
children  see  page  73. 

Probation  Office: 

The  care  of  dependent  children  is  also  a  function  of  the  proba¬ 
tion  work  of  the  Juvenile  Court,  which  had  in  its  care  January  1st, 
1911,  509  children.  These  have  been  found  neglected  in  the  Juvenile 
Court,  either  through  the  cruelty,  carelessness,  shiftlessness  or  other 
moral  failure  of  their  parents.  Such  children  are  returned  to  their 
homes  under  the  supervision  of  a  probation  officer,  who  does  every¬ 
thing  in  his  or  her  power  to  patch  up  the  family  shortcomings,  and 
establish  them  in  normal  ways  of  life.  This  process,  which  has  grown 
with  extreme  rapidity  the  last  three  years  (from  81  neglected  chil¬ 
dren  in  the  care  of  the  office  in  January,  1908,  to  509  in  January, 
1911),  is  preventing  the  commitment  to  institutions  of  a  great  many 
neglected  children. 


-42 


2.  PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  CARE  OF  DEFECTIVE  CHILDREN  IN 

ST.  LOUIS.  • 

The  group  of  defective  children  includes  those  children  who  are 
either  feeble-minded,  or  who  are  blind,  deaf  mute,  or  epileptic.  The 
provisions  for  such  children,  in  cases  where  their  parents  are  able  to 
pay,  are  adequate  for  all  but  the  feeble-minded  children.  In  cases 
where  children  are  both  defective  and  destitute,  the  problem  is  a  dif¬ 
ficult  one. 

(A)  Special  Classes. 

(1)  Blind:- 

The  Missouri  School  for  the  Blind,  located  at  No.  3815  Magnolia 
avenue,  takes  both  boarding  children  and  day-school  pupils,  children 
from  other  parts  of  the  State  boarding  at  the  school  during  the  school 
term,  September  to  July.  The  institution  is  unable  to  provide  quar¬ 
ters  at  present  for  blind  colored  children,  who  may  be  admitted  only 
as  day-school  pupils. 

(2)  Deaf  Mute: 

There  are  private  institutions  for  the  deaf  mute,  as  well  as  the 
State  School  for  the  Deaf  Mute  at  Fulton,  and  the  Board  of  Educa¬ 
tion's  day-school  (Gallaudet)  for  the  deaf  mute  at  Henrietta  and 
Compton  avenue.  At  Fulton  the  same  arrangements  hold  as  those 
for  the  School  for  the  Blind  at  St.  Louis. 

Neither  of  these  schools  keep  children  the  full  twelve  months 
in  the  year,  and  the  child  who  is  destitute  and  either  blind  or  deaf 
mute,  is  thrown  on  the  community  without  any  remedy  for  his  proper 
care. 

(B)  A  Special  Study  of  Feeble-Minded  Children. 

By  the  School  of  Social  Economy,  Department  of  Research, 
January,  1910. 

(Abridged  by  the  Commission.) 

Feeble-Mindedness  Defined: 

The  term  feeble-minded  has  been  used  by  specialists  to  cover  all 
grades  of  imbecility,  from  the  child  who  is  simply  dull  and  incapable 
of  profiting  from  ordinary  school  work,  to  the  gelatinous  mass  that 
simply  eats  and  lives. 

There  is  the  absolute  idiot  who,  while  able  to  see  and  hear,  never 
learns  to  talk  or  perform  the  simplest  service  for  himself.  There  is 

Note — Since  this  study  of  the  feeble-minded  children  in  St.  Louis  was 
made,  the  dependent  children  in  the  Infirmary  have  been  transferred  to  the 
Sanitarium  and  placed  in  a  ward  by  themselves.  They  are  receiving  no  instruc¬ 
tion,  however,  and  do  not  have  under  present  conditions  the  care  and  atten¬ 
tion  recommended  in  this  report. 


43— 


the  imbecile  who,  while  lie  cannot  take  care  of  himself,  can  do  pretty 
well  under  the  direction  of  others.  Imbecility  represents  many  de¬ 
grees  of  deficiency,  moral  and  intellectual;  on  the  one  hand  passing 
by  imperceptible  gradations  into  idiocy,  on  the  other  hand  passing 
insensibly  into  ordinary  intelligence. 

Feeble-mindedness,  including,  both  idiocy  and  imbecility,  al¬ 
though  incurable,  can  be  ameliorated  or  modified,  .just  as  it  has  been 
superinduced  by  causes  congenital  or  accidental. 

Another  phase  of  mental  defect,  unrecognized  until  of  late,  has 
developed  the  term  “backward  child  ’— one  unable  to  advance  rap¬ 
idly.  In  every  community  there  are  children  who,  while  not  imbecile, 
are  of  so  slow  a  type  of  mind,  that  they  cannot  keep  pace  with  the 
work  of  even  the  average  child.  While  they  are  capable  of  learn¬ 
ing,  they  require  several  years  to  accomplish  what  the  normal  child 
does  in  one  year. 

In  11)07-1908  the  Superintendent  of  the  Public  Schools  in  the  City 
of  St.  Louis,  recommended  that  pupils  of  this  class  be  taken  from  the 
ordinary  schools  and  placed  in  small  groups,  fifteen  to  a  room,  thirty 
to  a  school.  The  result  of  this  recommendation  was  that  residence 
buildings,  suitably  located  and  arranged  were  secured  and  what  is 
known  as  special  schools  were  provided  for  the  backward  child, 
where  educational  facilities  adapted  to  the  varying  degrees  of  intel¬ 
ligence  were  furnished. 

The  children  are  more  carefully  classified  than  is  possible  in  the 
ordinary  schools,  one  teacher  being  responsible  for  only  fifteen  pupils. 
At  present  there  are  eight  schools  of  this  class  in  the  city,  one  alone 
providing  for  colored  children. 

Our  special  schools  provide  for  the  backward  child,  who,  while 
he  will  always  remain  below  the  normal  standard,  is  enabled  to  go 
through  life  in  much  the  same  manner  as  his  fellows.  Each  child  of 
the  210  children  receiving  their  education  in  the  special  schools  is 
given  an  opportunity  to  learn,  and  if  apparently  incapable  of  im¬ 
provement  at  the  end  of  that  perod,  he  is  dropped  from  the  school. 
From  ten  to  twelve  of  these  children  are  dropped  each  year,  and  as 
the  attendance  in  the  special  schools  increases,  a  greater  number  of 
those  dropped  can  be  expected. 


This  intermediate  class  represents  a  problem  of  danger  and  dif¬ 
ficulty  both  for  the  sufferer  and  society,  and  it  is  this  class  of  middle- 
grade  imbeciles  which,  because  it  is  continually  being  dropped  from 
our  special  schools,  remains  in  the  homes,  untrained  and  untaught. 


44 


Institutions  are  absolutely  necessary  for  this  class,  both  for  their 


their  own  degenerate  kind.  A  large  percentage  of  the  feeble-minded 


way  to  the  Infirmary  or  Sanitarium,  where  naturally  they  do  not  re¬ 
ceive  proper  care  and  attention.  Many  of  the  adult  idiots  there  at 
present  entered  in  childhood,  and  have  received  no  care  other  than 
that  given  to  the  pauper  insane  inmates.  These  unfortunates  having 
no  opportunity  for  improvement,  live  on  until  disease  or  old  age  re¬ 
leases  them. 

Number  of  Feeble-Minded  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis : 

Of  the  36,000  public  school  children  in  St.  Louis,  it  is  probable, 
from  conservative  studies  and  estimates  elsewhere,  that  three-fifths  of 
one  per  cent,  or  about  500,  are  either  backward  or  feeble-minded. 
According  to  good  authority,  about  150  of  these  are  feeble-minded. 
Some  of  these  children  are  in  institutions,  some  are  in  their  homes  and 
a  not  inconsiderable  percentage  of  the  210  children  now  in  the  special 
schools  are  so  defective  that  their  proper  place  is  in  an  institution  for 
the  feeble-minded. 

An  investigation  was  made  of  73  children  of  this  large  group, 
of  which  8  could  not  be  found,  owing  to  wrong  addresses;  9  were  in 
the  public  special  schools  and  1  in  a  private  school.  Of  the  remaining 
55  children,  a  detailed  study  was  made  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
nature  of  the  problem  of  care  involved. 

These  children  are  distributed  in  the  city  as  follows: 


Place. 

Infirmary  . 

Sanitarium  . 

Industrial  School 
Mission  Free  School 

Bethesda  Home . 

In  Their  Own  Homes 


Number 
of  Children. 
...  17 


o 

o 


2 

6 

4 

23 


Total 


45— 


and  unable  to  furnish  the  necessary  care  and  training.  The  parents 
of  the  other  5  children  are  comparatively  well-to-do,  and  the  chil¬ 
dren  are  receiving*  some  education,  eit her  in  a  private  day-school,  or 
in  their  homes. 

The  remaining*  15  children  in  the  group  at  home  should  be  placed 
in  a  suitable  institution.  Four  of  these  homes  are  in  comfortable  cir¬ 
cumstances,  and  the  parents  would  be  able  to  pay  a  small  sum  to¬ 
wards  the  support  of  their  children. 

Four  of  the  remaining  homes  consist  of  one  or  tAvo  rooms  each, 
and  are  miserable  and  dirty  beyond  description.  In  many  cases,  the 
mother  engages  in  laundry  work  in  order  to  raise  the  family  income. 
There  is  one  case  of  non-support  and  desertion  on  part  of  the  hus¬ 
band,  and  another  of  drunkenness.  Two  of  the  homes  contain  such 
large  families  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  t lie  parents  to  support 
the  normal  children. 

The  homes  of  the  17  children  found  at  the  Infirmary  belong  to 
the  very  poor  tenement  districts,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that,  even  in  the 
Infirmary,  their  condition  is  superior  to  what  it  must  have  been  in 
their  homes.  The  parents  of  the  majority  of  these  children  are  liv¬ 
ing,  but,  owing  to  insufficient  wages  or  large  families,  the  mother  is 
often  compelled  to  work.  It  then  becomes  necessary  for  her  to  place 
her  child  somewhere,  because  it  is  impossible  for  her  to  give  him  at 
home  t lie  constant  attention  which  is  necessary.  As  she  cannot  afford 
to  place  it  in  a  private  institution,  the  only  home  open  to  it  is  the 
Infirmary.  At  the  Infirmary  all  the  girls  and  boys  under  ten  years 
occupy  the  same  dormitory  as  the  female  insane,  while  boys  over 
ten  years  are  housed  with  the  insane  men.  Although  all  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  there,  with  the  exception  of  an  epileptic  boy,  are  idiots  or  low- 
grade  imbeciles,  yet  there  is  no  reason  why,  with  proper  care  and 
training,  they  could  not  be  made  useful  in  the  institution.  Instead 
of  this,  they  sit  about  lined  up  along  the  Avail,  aimlessly  doing 
nothing. 

The  children  housed  at  the  Bethesda  Home,  Mission  Free  School 
and  Industrial  School,  besides  exerting  a  bad  influence  on  the  other 
children  in  the  institutions,  do  not  receive  the  training  fitted  to  the 
needs  of  the  normal  child.  In  time  these  children,  on  account  of 
unfitness,  pass  from  one  institution  to  another,  their  ultimate  home 
being  the  Infirmary. 


Note — Since  this  study  was  made,  these  children  have  been  transferred 
from  the  Infirmary  to  the  Sanitarium. 


46— 


Classification  of  Children : 


The  fifty-five  feeble-minded  children  studied,  vary  greatly  as  to 
ages  and  degrees  of  deficiency.  On  this  basis  they  may  be  classified 
as  follows : 


Grade.  Number. 

Imbeciles — * 

Boys  .  23 

Girls  . .  . .  . .  7 


1-5  yrs.  6-10yrs.  11-15  yrs. 


2 


8  8 

1  4 


16  yrs. 

5 

2 


Total  .  30 

Epileptics — 

Boys  .  5 

Girls  .  1 


2  9  12 


4 

1 


7 

1 


Total  .  G 

Idiots — • 

Boys  .  9 

Girls  .  10 

Total  .  19 

Grand  Total .  55 


4 

6 


5 
1 

6 
15 


7. 

7 

24 


2 

2 

10 


Of  the  55  cases  of  feeble-mindedness,  23  were  congenital  and  32 
were  acquired.  Nineteen  of  the  23  congenital  cases  are  idiots  and  4 
are  imbeciles.  The  19  idiots  consist  of  13  boys  and  6  girls,  and  the 
4  imbeciles  of  2  boys  and  2  girls.  In  these  cases,  the  parenthood  of 
6  is  unknown.  There  are  three  instances  of  defective  parents,  two 
cases  of  defective  brother  or  sister,  while  in  6  cases  no  defect  can  be 
traced. 

In  the  cases  of  the  children  having  a  defective  family  history, 
only  the  maternal  side  was  affected,  both  imbecility  and  idiocy  occur¬ 
ring.  The  majority  of  the  congenital  cases  are  healthy,  but  are  un¬ 
able  to  care  for  themselves  and  need  constant  supervision  and  atten¬ 
tion.  Four  of  the  boys  are  paralytic  and  are  unable  to  move  without 
assistance. 

The  32  cases  of  acquired  feeble-mindedness  represent  23  boys 
and  9  girls.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  the  defect  is  due  to  severe  falls 
or  diseases  in  infancy,  while  in  a  small  percentage  it  was  the  result 
of  epilepsy.  The  epileptic  cases,  of  course,  vary;  some  of  these  chil¬ 
dren  having  daily  attacks,  while  others  enjoy  much  longer  intervals. 
Seven-tenths  of  the  imbeciles  are  between  the  ages  of  six  to  fifteen 
years,  which  is  the  most  critical  time  of  a  child’s  life,  for  even  with 
the  most  efficient  training,  little  can  be  accomplished  to  develop  the 
mentality  of  the  child  after  the  fifteenth  year  has  been  reached.  The 


47 


groups  of  imbeciles  are  all  trainable,  and  two  of  the  idiots  are  too 
young  to  be  judged  otherwise.  Of  the  entire  number  of  55  feeble¬ 
minded  children,  36  can  speak  and  are  able  to  care  for  themselves. 


The  Missouri  Colony  for  the  Feeble-Minded  and  Epileptic: 

In  the  colony  at  Marshall,  Mo.,  expert  care  and  training  is  pro¬ 
vided  for  the  feeble-minded.  This  institution,  supported  by  the  State, 
furnishes  a  “home  for  homeless  and  helpless  children  who  are  af¬ 
flicted  both  mentally  and  physically.” 

Scientific  care  and  treatment  is  provided  for  the  most  incapable, 
while  those  capable  of  improvement  are  placed  under  competent  teach¬ 
ers,  and  are  enabled  to  become  in  a  measure,  self-supporting  within 
the  institution.  Care  and  treatment  are  also  given  to  those  epileptics 
who  are  not  insane  or  dangerous.  The  average  number  of  inmates 

for  the  year  1907-1908  was  425,  of  whom  63  were  from  St.  Louis. 

«/ 

The  monthly  per  capita  cost  to  the  city  is  $12.50. 

The  institution,  however,  does  not  care  for  colored  people  who 
are  feeble-minded,  there  being  no  provision  in  the  State  or  City  of  St. 
Louis  for  the  care  of  feeble-minded  and  epileptic  colored  adults  or 
children. 


STATISTICAL  SUMMARY  OF  TIIE  INVESTIGATION. 


I.  Distribution  of  Children: 

Place. 

Infirmary  . 

Sanitarium  . 

Industrial  School . 

.Mission  Free  School . 

Bethesda  Home . 

In  their  own  Homes . 


Number. 
.  .  17 

3 
2 
6 

4 

.  .  23 


Total 


55 


II.  Character  of  Homes  of  Children: 


Type.  In  Institutions.  In  Their  Own  Homes. 

Good  .  4  12 

Fair  .  8  9 

Poor  .  10  2 

Unknown  .  10 

Total  .  32  23 


-48 


III.  Grades  of  Defect  and  Age  Distribution: 


Grade. 

Number. 

1-5  yrs 

6-10  yrs. 

11-15  yrs. 

16  yrs. 

Imbeciles — • 

Boys  . 

.  23 

2 

8 

8 

5 

Girls  . 

.  7 

1 

4 

2 

Total 

.  30 

2 

9 

12 

rr 

7 

Epileptics — 

Boys  . 

4 

1 

Girls . 

.  1 

1 

Total 

.  6 

r 

a 

1 

Idiots — 

Boys  . 

.  9 

4 

5 

Girls  . 

.  10 

1 

n 

( 

2 

Total 

.  19 

4 

6 

7 

2 

Grand 

Total .  55 

6 

15 

24 

10 

IV.  Vital  Statistics  of  Parents : 

Number  Having 

Number  With  One  or  Both 

Children. 

Parents  Living. 

Parents  Dead. 

Parents  Unknown. 

Boys  . 

.  18 

14 

6 

Girls  . 

.  8 

6 

3 

Total  . 

.  26 

20 

9 

V.  Congenital  and  Acquired  Cases: 

No. 

CONGENITAL,  attributed  to- 


Defective  Family  History .  5 

Defective  Parenthood .  6 

Cause  Unknown .  6 

Parenthood  Unknown .  6 


Total  .  23 


No. 

ACQUIRED  Cases,  result  of— 

Severe  Fall .  1 

Malignant  Fever . 

Paralysis  . 

Meningitis  . 

Convulsions . 

Fpilepsy  . 

Causes  Unknown . 


Total  .  32 


VI.  Physical  and  Mental  Condition:  No.  1. 


Class.  1-5  yrs. 

Trainable — 

Boys  .  4 

Girls  . 


- Age - 

6-10  yrs.  11-15  yrs. 

8  12 

1  5 


Total  .  4 

Untrainable — - 

Boys  .  2 

Girls  . 


17 


5 


Total 


2  6 


16  yrs. 

6 

2 

8 

2 

2 


49— 


O  M  i— !  lO.<X>  Tf 


VII.  Physical  and  Mental  Condition:  No.  2. 

Speak  Violeiu  Can  Care  for  Self. 


Sex. 

Yes. 

No. 

Yes. 

No. 

Yes. 

No. 

Boys  . 

.  .  27 

10 

6 

31 

27 

10 

Girls  . 

9 

9 

8 

10 

9 

9 

Total  .  . 

.  .  36 

19 

14 

41 

36 

19 

—50— 


PART  II. 


COMPARISON  OF  METHODS  IN  OTHER  CITIES  AND 

(1)  DELINQUENTS. 


STATES. 


The  successful  institutions  in  this  country  and  elsewhere,  for  the 
training  of  delinquent  children,  whether  they  be  what  is  known  as 
parental  schools  or  reform  schools  for  older  boys  and  girls,  are  uni¬ 
formly  on  the  cottage  plan.  That  is,  they  are  situated  in  the  country 
and  the  population  is  divided  up  among  small  cottages,  in  which 
there  is  some  attempt  at  producing  a  homelike  environment. 

The  cottage  unit  varies  anywhere  from  15  to  60  or  75  children. 
There  are  a  few  successful  congregate  institutions,  but  the  results 
in  such  institutions  have  been  obtained  under  great  difficulties  by  seg¬ 
regation  as  in  the  cottage  system.  There  are  practically  no  authorities 
who  advocate  the  congregate  institutions  for  delinquents,  however  well 
run.  The  physical  obstacles  to  proper  segregation  are  too  great. 

The  chief  advantages  of  the  cottage  system  are  these: 


First :  It  permits  a  proper  separation  of  the  children. 

Second:  It  insures  a  type  of  family  life,  with  its  housefather 
and  housemother,  enabling  a  delinquent  child  to  receive  individual 
attention,  impossible  under  the  congregate  system. 

Third:  It  fosters  a  love  of  home  life  and  the  home  virtues. 


Fourth :  It  affords  an  opportunity  for  country  life  and  country 
occupations,  which  are  not  only  healthful,  but  form  a  type  of  training 
essential  to  the  development  of  most  delinquent  children. 


Fifth : 
of  a  prison, 


It  absolutely  removes  the  appearance  and  char  act  erist 
regulating  freedom  with  proper  supervision. 


ics 


The  experience  of  the  entire  United  States  with  institutions  for 
delinquent  children  is  very  well  set  forth  in  a  most  admirable  report 
published  in  1909  by  the  Commission  appointed  by  the  New  York 
Legislature  to  “Select  a  Site  for  the  New  York  Training  School  for 
Boys.”  The  report  of  this  Commission,  which  has  been  most  favor¬ 
ably  commented  upon  throughout  the  country,  contains  specific  recom¬ 
mendations  as  to  the  organization  of  an  institution  for  delinquents  on 


51- 


the  cottage  plan,  and  these  recommendations  arc*  drawn  from  the  ex¬ 
perience  of  the  best  institutions  of  the  sort  throughout  the  country.  A 
set  oi  questions  was  submitted  to  the  men  in  charge  of  these  institu¬ 
tions,  and  the  report  itself  embodies  their  conclusions.  These  gentlemen 
are  the  following:  Superintendent  Franklin  IT.  Briggs,  of  the  State 
Agricultural  and  Industrial  School,  at  Industry,  New  York;  Super¬ 
intendent  Chas.  D.  Hides,  of  the  Children’s  Village,  Dobb’s  Ferry; 
Superintendent  F.  II.  Nibecker,  of  Glens  .Mills,  Pa. ;  Superintendent  Jos. 
P.  Byers,  Randall  s  Island  House  of  Refuge,  New  York;  Superintendent 
Edwin  T.  Wentworth,  of  the  State  School  for  Boys,  Portland,  YTe. ; 
Mr.  T.  F.  Chapin,  formerly  of  the  Lyman  School  for  Boys,  Westboro, 
Mass. ;  James  Allison,  Superintendent  Cincinnati  House  of  Refuge,  Cin¬ 
cinnati,  (). ;  E.  E.  York,  Superintendent  Indiana  Boys’  School,  Plain- 
field,  Ind. ;  AY.  AY.  McLain,  formerly  superintendent  St.  Charles  School 
for  Boys,  St.  Charles,  Ilk,  and  R.  R.  Reeder,  Superintendent  of  Orphan¬ 
age,  Hastings-on-Hudson,  New  A’ork. 

These  men,  who  are  regarded  as  the  most  experienced  and  most 
expert  in  their  field,  were  not  all  superintendents  of  institutions  organ- 
izd  on  the  cottage  plan;  several  of  them  were  superintendents  of  con¬ 
gregate  institutions,  so  that  a  diversity  of  experience  was  brought  to 
bear  on  the  questions  asked. 

The  inquiry  was  directed  to  ascertaining  desirable  points  in  pro¬ 
viding  an  institution  for  delinquent  boys  between  nine  and  seventeen 
years  of  age,  practically  all  of  them  city  boys.  The  capacity  of  the 
institution  was  to  be  800. 

The  Commission  agreed  that  all  the  boys  should  be  cared  for  in  cot¬ 
tages,  and  that  the  cottage  unit  should  be  12  to  25;  that  each  cot¬ 
tage  should  have  its  own  parcel  of  land,  with  barns,  livestock,  etc.; 
that  a  central  school  should  be  established  with  16  boys  to  a  room, 
and  that  these  16  boys  should  be  the  cottage  unit  unbroken. 

As  to  instruction  and  training  the  following  points  were  brought 

out : 


The  uniform  testimony  of  all  superintendents  consulted  is,  that 
a  majority  of  the  boys  can  be  easily  interested  in  agriculture,  espe^ 
cially  in  the  care  of  animals,  regardless  of  the  probability  that  they 
would  follow  such  occupations  after  leaving  the  institution.  All  con¬ 
sultants  agreed  upon  the  educational  value  of  farming  for  delinquent 
boys. 

One  question  inquired  as  to  whether  manual  training  or  definite 
trade  teaching  would  be  provided.  This  question  brought  out  con¬ 
siderable  difference  of  opinion.  The  Commission  on  this  point  said : 

—  52  — 


“The  typical  delinquent  is  more  or  less  a  specimen  of  retarded 
development,  in  need  of  physical  improvement  and  mental  stimula¬ 
tion,  that  lie  may  lie  capable  of  entertaining  the  ambitions  of  the 
average  American  boy.  He  needs  not  only  the  complete  change  of 
physical  atmosphere  which  the  small  cottage  colony  affords,  but  an  in¬ 
tellectual  awakening  which  shall  make  him  capable  of  grasping  moral 
standards  and  of  making  moral  judgments.  Ilis  hands  will  be  found, 
in  our  judgment,  the  best  approach  to  his  intellect.  To  make  things, 
to  do  things,  to  bring  things  to  pass,  will  catch  and  hold  his  interest. 
Hence,  all  the  operations  of  the  institution  need  to  be  organized, 
arranged,  and  carried  out  with  a  view  to  make  him  an  interested  par¬ 
ticipant,  and  an  important  agency  in  its  activities.  Every  man  in 
charge  of  a  cottage  should  be  an  efficient  teacher  of  something,  and 
to  effect  a  harmonious  and  symmetrical  training  should  co-operate 
with  all  other  agencies.  In  scholastic  lines  nothing  beyond  a  good 
common  school  education  should  be  attempted,  special  emphasis  being 
laid  upon  the  ability  to  read.  Along  with  this  should  go  a  good  ele¬ 
mentary  manual  training  in  the  use  of  woodworking  tools.  All  boys 
who  show  ability 'and  ambition  to  learn  a  trade  should  be  afforded 
adequate  opportunity  to  do  so,  so  far  as  their  age  and  the  length  of 
their  stay  permit,  but  those  of  little  mechanical  ability  should  he 
encouraged  to  learn  the  simpler  trades,  or  to  train  for  work  on  the 
farm.  As  far  as  practicable,  every  boy  should  be  taught  to  do  some 
kind  of  remunerative  work  efficiently  before  he  leaves  the  school.  One 
of  the  most  important  lessons  he  has  to  learn  is  to  like  work.  The 
delinquent  boy  has  seldom  arrived  at  the  1  hobo  stage  of  inactivity 
and  degeneracy.  He  likes  to  be  active ;  if  his  work  is  made  interesting, 
he  will  like  work  and  may  form  the  habit  of  liking  it. 

The  Commission  therefore  recommended  one  simple  building  pro¬ 
viding  quarters  for  the  teaching  of  the  following  trades:  tailoring, 
shoe  making,  carpentry,  masonry,  bakery,  house  painting,  printing, 
bookbinding  and  laundry;  the  cottage  managers  to  be  teachers  and 
leaders  in  this  industrial  training. 

The  Commission  recommended  in  the  matter  of  cottage  plans,  first, 
that  there  should  be  a  pleasant  sitting  room  where  reading  and  games 
could  be  carried  on;  second,  that  there  should  be  a  sleeping  room  with 
sixteen  square  feet  of  floor  space  for  each  bed.  The  Commission 
advocated  cottages  with  single  sleeping  rooms  for  ten  per  cent  of 
the  boys,  to  be  known  as  “honor  cottages, ”  in  which  each  boy  would 
spend  at  least  three  months  before  his  parole.  For  the  remaining  cot- 


tages,  each  one  to  hold  sixteen  boys,  two  open  dormitories  with  eight 
hoys  each  were  recommended  rather  than  one  with  sixteen  boys; 
third,  for  the  house-father  and  house-mother,  a  good  sitting  and  sleep* 
ing  room  with  toilet  and  bath  and  a  sleeping  room  for  the  teacher, 
with  hath;  fourth,  a  convenient  kitchen  with  pantry  or  store  room 
and  a  pleasant  dining  room.  The  toilets  and  baths  for  the  hoys 
should  he  on  the  dormitory  floor,  with  additional  toilets  in  the  base¬ 
ment.  There  was  also  advocated  a  workshop  in  the  basement,  but 
a  playroom  was  specifically  not  advocated  by  the  Commission,  which 
held  that  out-of-door  recreation  was  better  in  almost  all  weathers. 

The  training  of  delinquent  girls,  it  is  generally  agreed,  should 
follow  the  same  principles  as  that  of  delinquent  hoys,  with  such  modi¬ 
fication  as  is  demanded  by  the  difference  in  the  pursuits  which  girls 
and  hoys  follow  after  leaving  an  institution.  Out-of-door  and  manual 
training  are  becoming  more  and  more  recognized  as  proper  instru¬ 
ments  of  education  for  delinquent  girls,  as  w^ell  as  hoys. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  tendency  to  the  cottage  system,  and  be¬ 
cause  of  the  similarity  in  its  history  to  our  Industrial  School,  a  brief 
statement  of  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  is  given. 

ITiril  the  year  1905  the  history  of  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum, 
as  it  was  then  called,  was  quite  similar  to  that  of  the  Industrial  School. 
It,  too,  was  founded  in  the  early  fifties.  It  was  situated  in  the  city, 
on  a  tract  of  land  containing  thirty  acres.  Its  single  building  accom¬ 
modated  nearly  a  thousand  children.  There,  too,  a  hundred  or  more 
children  slept  in  each  bedroom.  There  was  no  classification  of  chil¬ 
dren.  for  the  institution  gave  shelter  to  the  dependent  and  delinquent 
children,  to  white  and  black,  and  to  girls  and  boys.  “Considered 
simply  from  the  standpoint  of  the  congregate  institution,  the  old  Juve¬ 
nile  Asylum  reached  a  point  of  singular  efficiency,”  but,  like  the  In¬ 
dustrial  School  here,  it  was  the  machine  efficiency  of  an  institution. 

Just  six  years  ago  a  great  change  occurred  in  the  Juvenile  Asy¬ 
lum.  The  congregate  system  was  abolished  and  the  school  was  moved 
to  the  country.  There  was  also  a  change  in  the  class  of  children  cared 
for.  The  rule  had  been  made  by  the  New  York  State  Board  of  Chari¬ 
ties  that  delinquent  and  dependent  children  should  no  longer  be  al¬ 
lowed  in  the  same  institution.  Compelled  to  make  a  choice,  the  direc¬ 
tors  of  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  decided  in  favor  of  the  de¬ 
linquents. 

On  the  218  acres  at  their  disposal,  twenty-five  cottages,  accom¬ 
modating  twenty  boys  each,  have  already  been  completed.  None  of 
the  bedrooms  in  these  cottages  accommodates  over  ten  boys.  In  sev- 


-54- 


eral  of  the  cottages,  where  the  boys  who  have  made  the  best  records 
are  located,  each  boy  has  his  own  room. 

‘‘The  high  Avails  which  bounded  the  old  playground  have  gone 
and  the  boys  can  roam  over  fields  covering  many  acres.  The  athletic 
field  will  accommodate  eight  baseball  games  at  the  same  time  and 
no  boy  during  his  play  time  is  compelled  to  be  an  idle  spectator  while 
his  fellows  take  their  turn  at  play.  Meals  are  no  longer  disciplinary 
functions,  but  opportunities  for  conversation,  and  there  is  a  house¬ 
mother  and  often  a  house-father,  too,  present  in  the  cheerful  dining¬ 
room  AAdiere  the  boys  come  and  sit  around  tAvo  separate  tables.”  Each 
cottage  is  made  as  homelike  as  possible. 

Besides  the  cottages,  the  Children’s  Village  contains  two  school 
buildings,  tAvo  industrial  buildings,  a  church,  a  gymnasium,  and  admin¬ 
istrative  building,  the  superintendent’s  cottage  and  a  general  power- 
house  and  kitchen. 

Another  interesting  study  of  existing  tendencies  has  been  made 
in  Pittsburgh.  The  County  Commissioners  of  Alleghany  County  ap¬ 
pointed  a  Commission  to  draw  up  plans  and  to  select  a  site  for  a  new 
cottage  institution  for  delinquent  boys,  Avhite  and  colored.  The  gen¬ 
eral  conclusions  to  which  this  Commission  has  come  are  as  folloAvs : 

The  institution  should  be  primarily  industrial  and  agricultural, 
modeled  on  the  plans  of  the  school  at  Industry,  N.  V.  The  Com¬ 
mission  believes  that  an  acreage  of  one  acre  to  a  boy  is  about  cor¬ 
rect.  The  Commission  advocates  the  cottage  plan,  Avith  a  unit  of  six¬ 
teen  to  twenty  boys  in  a  cottage,  the  cottages  to  be  placed  far  apart. 
They  do  not  advocate  the  single  bedroom,  feeling  that  it  leads  to  more 
abuse  than  the  open  dormitory,  Avell  supervised. 

(2)  DEPENDENT  CHILDREN. 

The  Avhole  tendency  in  the  care  of  dependent  children  all  over 
the  country,  whether  such  children  are  in.  need  of  temporary  or 
permanent  care,  is  to  place  them  in  a  family  home.  It  is  usual  that 
children  who  have  lost  both  parents,  or  avIio  must  be  removed  from 
the  care  of  uiiAvorthy  parents,  are  placed  in  permanent  family  homes, 
in  which  the  city  or  state  seldom  lias  to  pay  anything.  In  the  case 
of  children  needing  temporary  care,  the  city  or  state  places  children 
in  homes  carefully  investigated,  and  boards  them  there  at  Ioav  rates 
for  varying  periods  of  time,  until  conditions  come  about  through  which 
the  children  may  perhaps  be  returned  to  their  own  relatives.  This 
method  is  followed  in  Massachusetts,  even  in  the  cases  of  children 


—  od — 


whose  mothers  have  to  go  to  the  hospital  for  a  week  or  so,  and  who 
need  temporary  care.  The  city  or  state,  or  private  charity,  pays  the 
board  of  such  children  at  comparatively  low  rates,  $1.50  to  $3.50  per 
week,  which  is,  of  course,  a  much  more  economical  method  than  any 
institution  affords. 

The  Commission  submits  the  following  facts  regarding  the  care 
of  destitute  children. 

In  the  last  two  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  social  workers 
were  divided  in  their  opinions  as  to  the  care  of  the  dependent  child. 
Some  considered  institutional  care  better;  others  favored  placing  the 
child  in  a  family  home.  In  1899  the  controversy  practically  ended 
through  the  adoption  of  a  common  program.  An  extract  is  given 
from  the  report  then  drawn  up  by  a  Committee  of  the  National  Con¬ 
ference  of  Charities:  “All  workers  agree  that  the  home  is  t lie  nat¬ 
ural  place  to  develop  properly  a  child  *  *  *  and  urge  upon  all 

charitable  people  the  absolute  necessity  of  preserving  the  home  wher¬ 
ever  possible.  *  *  *”  They  agree  also  that  “the  institution  is 

still  to  be  retained  as  a  temporary  home  for  delinquent  and  dependent 
children  and  as  a  permanent  home  for  the  defective  class.” 

The  White  House  Conference,  called  by  President  Roosevelt  near 
the  end  of  his  administration,  was  composed  of  the  most  prominent 
social  workers  from  all  over  the  country,  and  it  adopted  much  the 
same  program.  The  emphasis  was  placed  on  preventive  work,  to  the 
end  that  all  child-caring  agencies  should  co-operate  to  ascertain  and 
control  the  causes  of  dependency.  Especially  did  they  urge  that  chil¬ 
dren  of  worthy  parents  be  left  in  their  own  homes.  One  of  the  author¬ 
ities  on  the  care  of  children  said:  “However  good  an  institution  may 
be,  however  kindly  its  spirit,  however  genial  its  atmosphere,  home¬ 
like  its  cottages,  however  fatherly  and  motherly  its  officers,  and  ad¬ 
mirable  its  training,  it  is  now  generally  agreed  among  those  familiar 


with  the  need  of  the  children  of  this  class,  that  institutional  life  is, 
at  best,  artificial  and  unnatural,  and  that  the  child  ought  to  be  re¬ 
turned  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  to  the  more  natural  environ¬ 
ment  of  the  family  home — his  own  home,  if  it  is  a  suitable  one,  and, 

if  not,  then  some  other  family  home.” 

If  the  home  surroundings  of  a  dependent  child  are  not  morally 
wrong,  the  best  way  to  help  is  not  to  place  him  in  an  institution,  or 
to  place  him  or  board  him  with  another  family,  but  to  aid  the  family 
itself  to  become  self-sustaining.  Private  charities  in  many  American 
cities  today  are  adopting  the  method  of  keeping  destitute  widows  and 
their  small  children  together  by  paying  them  a  sum  of  money  weekly 


-56 


until  the  children  reach  working  age  and  until  the  family  reaches 
self-support. 

New  \  ork  and  California  have  a  unique  plan  by  which  dependency 
has  greatly  increased.  Parents  or  guardians  are  allowed  to  place 
children  in  private  institutions  and  the  state  makes  a  per  capita 
payment  for  the  care  of  the  inmates.  In  both  these  states  this  was 
done  without  judicial  investigation.  Under  recent  laws  in  New  York, 
however,  the  State  Board  of  Charities  controls  the  admission  and  time 
of  detention  of  the  children  in  these  subsidized  sectarian  institutions. 
In  California  the  result  has  been  that  in  1904  that  state  was  caring 
for  7,801  dependent  children,  at  a  cost  of  $465,872.94,  while  Minnesota, 
a  state  with  the  same  population,  has  only  760  dependent  children  in 
her  care,  at  a  cost  of  $29,800.00.  California  has  gone  so  far  as  to 
forbid  her  State  Board  of  Charities  to  inspect  these  private  institu¬ 
tions.  New  Hampshire  has  recently  adopted  the  method  of  subsidiz¬ 
ing  private  institutions.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  dependency 
will  be  on  the  increase  there,  as  in  the  other  states.  Oregon  also  has 
the  state  subsidy  system,  but  it  is  surrounded  with  protective  provi¬ 
sions. 

The  Michigan  state  system  is  well  worthy  of  study.  The  chil¬ 
dren  are  sent  to  the  State  School,  an  ideal  institution,  built  on  the  cot¬ 
tage  plan.  It  they  are  in  proper  condition  to  be  placed  out  in  families, 
this  is  done  as  soon  as  the  placing-out  agents  have  found  a  suitable 
home.  If  not,  the  child  is  kept  in  the  school  sometimes  as  long  as  a 
year,  but  at  least  until  he  is  judged  ready  to  enter  a  family.  After 
the  placing-out,  the  children  are  supervised  by  state  and  county  agen¬ 
cies.  If  a  child  is  not  developing  in  the  best  way,  he  is  changed  to  a 
new  home.  No  child  is  taken  into  the  school  until  all  the  facts  re¬ 
garding  his  family  have  been  investigated.  The  decision  that  his 
support  cannot  be  enforced  against  the  parents  and  that  the  child  is 
dependent  on  the  public  for  support,  is  made  in  the  county  in  which 
he  lives.  More  than  92  per  cent  of  all  the  children  that  have  been 
admitted  have  turned  out  well. 

AVlien  the  school  was  first  established  in  1871,  there  were  600  de¬ 
pendent  children  in  the  alms  houses  throughout  the  state.  Prom  that 
time  until  1908  there  had  passed  through  the  school  4,708  children, 
an  average  of  141  per  year.  Perhaps  this  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
great  decrease  in  dependency  resulting  from  the  adoption  of  this  sys¬ 
tem.  It  has  been  well  said:  “The  State  of  Michigan,  which  has  ex¬ 
isted  only  about  forty  years,  has  the  merit  of  preceding  ancient  Europe 
in  the  investigation  of  a  new  era  for  dependent  children. 


In  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1880,  a  law  was  passed  providing  for 
the  boarding  out  of  children  in  family  homes.  The  placing-out  agencies 
were  so  successful  in  their  work  that  the  state  school  was  abolished 
fifteen  years  later,  because  of  the  scarcity  of  dependent  children  to  be 
cared  for  there.  This  work  is  carried  on  by  various  agencies  under  the 
supervision  of  t lie  State  Board  of  Charities.  Dependent  children  under 
public  care  are  placed  out  in  foster  or  boarding  homes.  Those  who 
need  permanent  care  arc  usually  placed  in  “free  foster  homes,”  and 
those  for  whom  there  is  prospect  of  return  to  relatives  are  placed  in 
boarding  homes.  Children  with  disease,  or  crippled,  are  often  boarded 
out  in  family  homes  for  long  periods  of  years  at  high  rates. 

Three  groups  of  agencies  care  for  dependent  children.  (1)  The 
State  Board  of  Charity,  which  places  out  those  children  whose  parents 
have  no  legal  settlement  in  any  town  or  city.  (A  legal  settlement  is 
established  by  a  residence  of  three  years.)  (2)  Trustees  for  Chil¬ 
dren  in  Boston  care  for  those  children  whose  parents  have  a  legal  set¬ 
tlement  in  t he  City  of  Boston.  (3)  The  private  charities  care  mainly 
for  those  children  who  need  to  be  boarded,  and  for  whom  there  is  pros¬ 
pect  of  later  care  by  relatives. 

The  total  cost  of  the  placing-out  and  supervision  of  children  in 
Massachusetts,  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  $600,000.00  a  year.  The  rate 
of  board  ranges  from  $1.75  per  week — sometimes  even  less — to  an 
average  of  $2.50,  with  a  maximum  of  $9.00  a  week  for  children  who  are 
diseased  or  in  need  of  special  care.  Children  are  placed  out  in  both 
country  and  city  homes.  Even  for  the  children  who  need  only  tem¬ 
porary  care  for  a  few  days,  placements  are  made  in  boarding  homes, 
some  homes  being  paid  a  sum  regularly  each  week  to  keep  open  day 
and  night  for  such  children  as  may  be  sent  to  them. 

Nursing  babies  are  placed  out  with  wet  nurses,  at  a  usually 
higher  rate  than  older  children.  The  Children’s  Aid  Society  pays 
$2.75  board  for  nursing  babies.  All  these  children  placed  out  are  con¬ 
stantly  visited  by  women  agents,  who  have  fifty  to  seventy-five  chil¬ 
dren  each  in  their  care. 

The  orphan  asylum,  as  an  institution,  is  disappearing  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  although  the  Jews  and  Episcopalians  are  building  new  ones 
in  Boston.  The  reason  given  in  both  these  cases  is  that  there  are 
not  enough  Jewish  and  Episcopalian  homes  for  placement  and  they 
prefer  to  care  for  their  children  in  the  institution,  rather  than  in 
the  homes  of  people  of  other  faiths. 

New  Jersey  boards  out  her  dependent  children,  but  the  work 
there  is  supervised  by  a  special  State  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians 


—58— 


Each  child  is  placed  within  the  state  in  a  family  of  like  religious  faith. 
In  1904  the  state  had  531  children  in  its  care,  360  boarding  and  171 
in  free  homes,  all  at  a  per  capita  expense  of  $60.15  for  a  year,  count¬ 
ing  those  in  the  free  homes.  Contrasting  this  with  the  amount  that 
St.  Louis  pays  for  her  dependent  children,  we  find  that  allowing  for 
repairs  on  the  building,  the  averagedaily  expense  in  1908  was  .46  cents, 
a  per  capita  yearly  expense  of  $176.65,  or  $110.50  more  a  year  than 
New  Jersey  pays. 

The  foregoing  methods  used  in  the  various  states  are  applicable 
to  cities  as  well.  Indeed,  cities  sometimes  have  set  the  pace  which 
their  own  states  well  might  follow.  Springfield,  fourteen  years  be¬ 
fore  Massachusetts,  adopted  the  placing-out  system.  The  cost  per 
capita,  including  clothing  and  other  necessary  expenses,  was  $2.00  per 

week,  or  $104.00  a  year.  For  each  dependent  child  St.  Louis  pays 
about  $63.00  more  a  year  than  does  Springfield. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  like  New  Jersey,  has  a  Board  of  Children’s 
Guardians.  Infants  and  children  under  nine  are  boarded  in  private 
families,  while,  unfortunately,  the  older  children  are  boarded  in  insti¬ 
tutions.  Washington  has  also  solved  the  problem  of  desertion  and 
parental  indifference — cases  of  non-support.  Instead  of  the  city  sup¬ 
porting  the  children,  as  St.  Louis  does,  the  fathers  are  brought  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Juvenile  Court.  About  88  per  cent  of  them 
have  been  placed  upon  probation  on  condition  that  they  support  their 
families,  and  that  each  Saturday  night  they  shall  pay  at  the  Station 
House  of  the  precinct  wherein  they  reside  a  stipulated  sum  for  the 
support  of  their  children.  This  is  turned  over,  without  reduction,  to 
the  wife  or  trustee.  Failing  in  this  obligation,  the  father  is  committed 
to  the  city  workhouse,  where  he  is  put  at  hard  labor,  fifty  cents  of 
his  earnings  each  day  being  paid  to  his  family.  In  the  last  four  years 
the  Juvenile  Court  has  collected  from  delinquent  fathers  and  paid 
to  the  families,  $101,490.08. 

If  St.  Louis  had  a  similar  system  for  the  desertion  cases,  158 
of  the  389  investigated  at  the  Industrial  School,  or  40  per  cent  of 
the  children,  would  never  have  been  placed  in  the  institution.  Not 

only  has  no  money  been  collected  from  the  fathers  in  St.  Louis  for  the 
support  of  children,  but  the  city  has  paid  out  $57,717.35  in  four  years 
to  support  these  desertion  cases. 

(3)  DEFECTIVE  CHILDREN. 

It  is  clear  that  the  special  classes  of  blind  and  deaf  mute  chil¬ 
dren  need  special  instruction  in  an  institution;  if  possible,  in  a  day- 


59— 


school,  living  at  home  and  having  parental  care.  If  they  are  desti¬ 
tute,  in  addition  to  being  blind  and  deaf  mute,  they  are  usually  com¬ 
mitted  to  such  institutions  permanently. 

There  can  be  little  question  but  that  feeble-minded  children  need 
the  most  careful  institutional  treatment.  The  best  institutions,  how¬ 
ever,  for  the  care  of  feeble-minded  children,  attempt  to  make  the 
surroundings  as  homelike  as  possible.  Every  child,  except  those  bed¬ 
ridden — that  is,  the  hospital  cases — is  given  some  educational  training, 
if  he  is  only  able  to  pick  stones  from  a  held  and  put  them  in  piles, 
the  simplest  work  which  a  feeble-minded  person  is  educated  to  per¬ 
form.  The  care  of  the  feeble-minded  throughout  the  country  is.  how¬ 
ever,  almost  universally  a  state  function.  AYe  have  found  no  local 
public  municipal  institutions  for  the  care  of  feeble-minded  children. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  great  amount  of  segregation — and  seg¬ 
regation  is  essential  among  feeble-minded  children — can  be  had  only  in 
an  institution  housing  a  comparatively  large  number.  The  Commis¬ 
sion  believes  that  the  methods  in  vogue  at  the  Alassachusetts  School 
for  the  Feeble-AIinded  at  AVaverlv,  Alass.,  and  t lie  New  Jersey  Train¬ 
ing  School  for  Feeble-Minded  Girls  and  Boys  at  AJneland,  X.  J.,  are 
to  be  commended  for  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Because  of  the  fact  that  the  care  of  these  children  is  properly  a 
state  function,  and  because  that  system  is  apparently  the  only  logical 
one  for  Missouri,  the  Commission  omits  any  detailed  description  of  in¬ 
stitutions  elsewhere  as  more  pertinent  for  the  inquiry  of  other  bodies. 


—60 


PART  III. 


RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  THE  CARE  OF  DELINQUENT,  DE¬ 
PENDENT  AND  DEFECTIVE  CHILDREN  IN  ST.  LOUIS. 

These  recommendations  are  briefly  stated.  A  large  portion  of 
the  facts  and  discussion  on  which  they  are  based,  will  be  found  in 
Parts  I  and  II. 


GENERAL. 


The  Commission  believes  firmly  that  no  one  institution,  however 
well  located  and  organized  can  properly  care  for  all  classes  of  chil¬ 
dren,  delinquent,  defective  and  dependent.  It  may  be  possible  that  the 
board  or  group  of  persons  who  are  officially  in  charge  of  one  group 
of  children,  can  provide  for  the  other  groups,  as  long  as  that  system 
does  not  involve  the  association  of  the  children  themselves. 

The  custodial  care  which  dependent  children  must  have  is  a  con¬ 
siderably  different  function  from  the  educational  training  which  is 
the  chief  need  of  delinquent  children. 

The  Commission  recommends,  therefore,  absolute  and  entire  sep¬ 
aration  of  t lie  groups  of  delinquent  and  dependent  children. 

The  Commission  recommends  for  care  of  both  groups  of  children, 
delinquent  and  dependent,  also  for  defective  children  who  may  be  de¬ 
pendent,  that  there  be  established  a  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians  of 
seven  persons,  appointed  by  the  Mayor  and  serving  without  salary,  who 
shall  have  full  power  to  care  for  these  various  groups  of  children 


under  the  provisions  of  the  law.  (See  pages  88  to  90.) 

The  Commission  agrees  that  the  system  for  the  care  of  the  groups, 
boys  and  girls,  colored  and  white,  should  be  uniform,  with  such  segre¬ 
gation  within  any  institution  as  is  deemed  wise,  but  not  separate  in- 

stitutions  for  the  various  groups. 

The  Commission  can  see  no  advantage  in  a  separate  institution 
for  any  of’  these  groups,  in  view  of  the  great  exjiense  incidental  to 
the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  separate  institutions.  The  cot- 
tage  system  will  offer  in  itself  whatever  segregation  is  desirable. 


-Ill— 


DELINQUENT  CHILDREN. 

The  Industrial  School,  like  most  institutions  for  delinquents  in 
this  country,  is  the  survival  of  the  old  penal  system  by  which  cliil- 
dred  used  to  pay  for  their  offenses  by  “serving  time”  in  the  same  way 
as  do  adults.  In  reality  t lie  Industrial  School,  like  other  institutions 
for  young  offenders,  has  become  more  and  more  identified  with  the 
educational  work  of  the  community,  and  more  truly  a  part  of  the 
school  system.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  analysis  of  tlie  offenders  at 
the  Industrial  School  contained  in  this  report,  shows  that  they  are 
children  from  defective  homes,  and  the  misfits  of  the  school — the  tru¬ 
ants,  school  offenders,  and,  in  some  instances,  children  who  have  gone 
beyond  truancy  and  school  offenses  to  larceny  and  the  more  serious 
offenses.  The  whole  tendency  is  to  regard  such  an  institution  as  a  part 
of  the  system  of  education.  The  Commission,  therefore,  recommends 

that  the  delinquent  children  be  cared  for  in  an  institution  established 
and  maintained  by  the  Board  of  Education  as  a  parental  school;  this 
school  to  be  located  in  the  country  and  organized  on  the  cottage  plan. 

Should  the  Board  of  Education  be  unwilling  or  unable  to  establish 
such  an  institution  and  to  maintain  it,  the  Commission  recommends 
that  whatever  institution  for  delinquents  is  maintained  by  the  city,  be 
controlled  by  the  same  board  or  officers  in  charge  of  the  system  of 
care  for  dependent  children,  in  order  to  avoid  unnecessary  duplication 
of  administrative  offices. 

Regarding  the  relation  of  the  Board  of  Education  to  the  city  in 
the  care  of  delinquent  children,  the  Commission  submits  four  plans : 


Plan  No.  1  recommended  by  the  Commission,  contemplates  the  ac¬ 
ceptance  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  task  of  caring 
for  the  approximately  200  delinquent  children  at  any  one  time  in  the 
public  care.  It  is  not  likely,  from  the  figures  shown  on  page  14  to 
16,  that  the  number  of  delinquent  children  in  the  care  of  the  public 
will  soon  exceed  the  number  in  the  Industrial  School,  January  1st, 
1911,  divided  as  follows:  126  white  boys;  54  colored  boys;  11  white 
girls;  12  colored  girls.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  most  of  the  white  girls 
can  be  cared  for  either  in  private  institutions  or  at  Chillicothe,  and 
the  few  colored  girls  may  be  largely  cared  for  in  the  new  State  Indus¬ 
trial  Home  for  Negro  Girls  as  soon  as  that  is  in  operation. 

A  new  institution  would,  therefore,  within  a  year  or  two,  be 
charged  with  the  care  at  any  one  time  of  approximately  175  boys, 
125  white  and  50  colored.  The  initial  cost  of  such  an  institution 
would  run  from  $175,000.00  to  $250,000.00.  Its  annual  cost 


—62— 


of  maintenance  would  be  $36,000.00  to  $45,000.00.  We  realize  that  this 
is  a  considerable  additional  burden  upon  the  Board  of  Education. 

Plan  No.  2  recommended  by  the  Commission  provides  for  the  con¬ 
struction  of  a  cottage  institution  for  delinquents  in  the  country,  with 
its  management  and  control  by  the  Board  of  Education,  under  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  an  amendment  to  Section  7  of  the  present  compulsory  school 
attendance  act,  introduced  into  the  Legislature,  which  will  permit  the 
Board  to  maintain  such  an  institution.  Since  the  Board,  however,  may 
not  legally  have  the  right,  and  is  not  now  financially  able  to  pay  the 
maintenance  of  children  in  such  an  institution — that  is,  their  clothes, 
food,  etc.,  as  well  as  their  entire  instruction,  the  Commission  recom¬ 
mends  a  division  of  the  burden  between  the  Board  and  the  city,  the 
city  paying  a  monthly  per  capita  of  $10.00  for  each  child  committed 
to  such  an  instutution.  For  copy  of  the  proposed  act  permitting  this 
arrangement  see  pages  81  to  82. 

Plan  No.  3  is  offered  as  a  substitute  in  case  the  Board  of  Educa¬ 
tion  should  not  wish  to  assume  the  burden  of  establishing  an  institu¬ 
tion  for  delinquent  children,  and  in  event  Plan  No.  2,  with  a  division 
of  the  burden  should  not  prove  desirable.  In  that  event,  the  Com¬ 
mission  recommends  the  establishment  by  the  city  of  a  cottage  insti¬ 
tution  in  the  country  to  be  operated  along  the  general  lines  laid  down 
on  pages  64  to  67,  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Children’s 
Guardians,  appointed  by  the  Mayor. 

Plan  No.  4.  It  seems  to  the  Commission  likely,  in  view  of  the 
present  financial  situation,  both  as  regards  the  Board  of  Education 
and  the  city,  that  no  immediate  steps  can  be  taken  to  raise  the  amount 
of  monev  necessary  to  re-locate  the  Industrial  School  in  the  country. 
If  the  change  cannot  be  made  within  a  reasonable  time,  the  Commis¬ 
sion  recommends  the  following  procedure,  all  of  which  is,  however, 
contingent  upon  the  securing  of  the  legislation  discussed  on  pages 
81  to  90.  The  Commission  wants  to  point  out  emphatically,  how¬ 
ever,  that  this  Plan  No.  4  is  only  a  make-shift,  and  in  no  way  will 
solve  satisfactorily  for  the  future  the  fundamental  problems  of  the 
care  of  delinquent  children : 

1.  That  the  dependent  children  be  gradually  removed  from  the 
Industrial  School  and  placed  out  in  family  homes. 

2.  That  the  feeble-minded  children  now  in  the  City  Infirmary  and 
private  institutions,  except  in  such  cases  as  it  seems  unwise,  be  trans- 


-63- 


ferred  to  the  Industrial  School,  and  provided  for  in  quarters  entirely 
separate  from  all  other  children,  these  quarters  being  made  possible 
by  the  removal  of  dependent  children. 

3.  That  the  entire  plant  of  the  Industrial  School,  except  that 
portion  used  by  feeble-minded  children,  be  utilized  for  the  care  of 
delinquents.  Even  under  the  adverse  conditions  of  building  and  ar¬ 
rangement  at  the  Industrial  School  today,  there  will  be  facilities  for 
much  greater  segregation  of  the  various  groups  of  children  when  the 
population  is  reduced  by  more  than  half,  as  it  will  be  with  the 
dependents  removed.  The  entire  seventeen  acres  of  the  institu¬ 
tion  can  be  utilized  for  delinquents,  instead  of  the  present  two 
or  three  acres  to  which  they  are  confined.  The  various  other  changes 
suggested  by  the  Commission  in  a  cottage  institution  for  delinquents 
can  be  approximated  at  the  Industrial  School  if  it  is  used  only  for  de¬ 
linquent  children.  There  can  be  separate  families,  with  a  man  and 
woman  in  charge  of  each,  even  though  the  families  have  to  live  in  a 
suite  of  rooms  in  one  of  the  old  buildings.  These  families  can  be 
preserved  as  a  school  unit,  considerable  out-of-door  training  and  a 
little  agriculture  can  be  given  the  boys,  and  the  present  system  may 
be  very  radically  changed  in  favor  of  the  small  group  family  life. 


Organization  of  an  Institution  for  Delinquents. 

The  Commissions  thinks  that  the  question  of  the  organization  of 
an  institution  for  delinquents  has  been  most  adequately  treated  in 
the  report  of  the  Commission  appointed  to  ‘‘Select  a  Site  for  the  New 
York  Training  School  for  Boys,”  cited  on  pages  51  to  51.  That  re¬ 
port,  toegther  with  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation  publication  on  “Cot¬ 
tage  and  Congregate  Institutions,”  answers  as  fully  as  possible  all  the 
questions  which  this  portion  of  the  report  should  cover. 

On  the  various  practical  matters  affecting  such  an  institution,  the 
Commission  is  unanimous  in  recommending  the  following : 


1.  The  Number  of  Children  to  Each  Cottage: 

The  Commission  feels  strongly  that  sixteen  is  a  most  desirable 
cottage  unit.  It  is  dangerous  to  establish  a  family  of  boys  of  a  greater 
number,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  supervision,  individual  attention 
and  proper  training.  The  Commission,  under  no  circumstances,  would 
recommend  a  maximum  greater  than  twenty,  however  crowded  the 
institution  might  become. 


—  G4— 


2.  Type  of  Training  to  Be  Given : 

The  Commission  thinks  that  the  type  of  training  to  be  given  in 
the  institution  would  depend  very  largely  on  the  character  of  boys 
whom  the  institution  receives.  In  general,  the  Commission  thinks  that 
the  boys  under  fourteen  should  get  common  grade-school  instruction, 
simple  farm  training,  and  a  wholesome  home  life.  The  boys  over 
fourteen,  who  will  probably  not  go  again  to  school,  should  have  in 
addition  whatever  industrial  and  trade  instruction  can  be  given  in  the 
comparatively  short  period  spent  in  the  institution. 

3.  Physical  Environment : 

An  institution  for  delinquents  organized  on  the  cottage  plan,  should 
be  located  not  nearer  than  ten  miles  to  the  city,  nor  more  than  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  miles  from  it.  Not  too  near,  chiefly  because  of  the  price 
of  land,  and  also  because  of  the  added  temptation  to  escapes,  and  the 
accessibility  to  parents  and  friends ; — and  not  too  far,  because 
of  the  cost  and  difficulty  of  transportation,  and  because  of  un¬ 
reasonable  inaccessibility.  It  should  be  near  a  railroad  in  order  to 
reduce  the  cost  of  transportation ;  should  be  composed  of  good  farm 
land,  some  woodland,  and  should  have  a  constant  and  adequate  supply 
of  water.  Regarding  the  acreage  of  such  an  institution,  the  Commis¬ 
sion  feels  very  positive  that  anything  less  than  an  acre  to  a  boy  would 
geratly  handicap  the  usefulness  of  the  institution.  Plenty  of  space, 
considerable  distance  between  each  cottage,  and  considerable  farm 
land  to  be  cultivated,  are  essentials. 

4.  What  Buildings  Are  Necessary: 

(1)  One  cottage  for  each  sixteen  boys. 

(2)  One  central  school  building,  with  auditorium,  chapel,  gym¬ 
nasium,  and  manual  training  rooms. 

(3)  Industrial  and  trades  buildings,  with  storage  rooms,  with 
power  plant  and  laundry. 

(4)  Hospital  building,  which  will  also  serve  as  a  home  for  such 
employees  as  cannot  be  housed  in  cottages ;  barns,  farm  houses,  etc. 

5.  Construction : 

The  Commission  recommends  fireproof  construction,  but  since  no 
building  would  be  over  two  stories  high,  does  not  regard  it  as  abso- 
lutely  essential. 


-65- 


Each  cottage  should  be  as  homelike  as  possible;  two  stories  high, 
with  large  basement  ;  first  floor  to  contain  living  room,  dining  room, 
kitchen,  teacher's  room;  second  floor  to  contain  boys’  rooms,  the  cot¬ 
tage  unit  of*  sixteen  divided  into  three  or  four  small  dormitories,  four 
to  six  boys  to  a  dormitory.  The  Commission  believes  that  the  large, 
open  dormitory,  containing  all  sixteen  boys,  is  not  desirable,  because 
it  destroys  privacy,  is  likely  to  cause  disorder,  and  tends  to  give  some¬ 
what  the  air  of  an  institution.  The  individual  room,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  possibly  objectionable,  except  in  one  or  two  “honor ’’cottages,  because 
it  does  not  permit  any  supervision  of  the  individual  boy  after  he  has 
retired  at  night.  The  superintendent’s  and  wife’s  quarters  should  be 
on  the  second  floor,  in  order  to  enable  them  to  supervise  the  boys  at 
night.  In  the  basement  there  should  be  baths  and  a  rainv-day  play¬ 
room. 

The  furnishing  of  the  cottages  should  be  bright,  attractive,  home¬ 
like,  though  simple.  Each  cottage  should  have  about  it  a  playground 
for  the  usual  outdoor  games,  and  some  slight  playground  apparatus. 
The  Commission  is  unanimously  in  favor  of  a  separate  kitchen  and 
dining  room  in  each  cottage,  because  of  economy  and  because  it  con¬ 
duces  to  a  more  normal  family  life.  The  alternative,  a  central  dining¬ 
room,  destroys  the  very  object  of  the  cottage  system,  and  the  method 
employed  in  some  institutions  of  a  central  kitchen,  with  the  food 
wheeled  around  to  the  different  cottage  dining  rooms  tends  to  bring 
food  to  the  table  poorly  prepared,  cold  and  unappetizing. 


6.  Segregation : 

Segregation  in  the  different  cottages  should  be  on  a  basis  of 
moral  character,  rather  than  on  differences  in  age  or  size.  Boys  who 
are  alike  in  temperament  and  disposition  should  be  grouped  together. 
For  the  purpose  of  this  segregation,  the  Commission  recommends  a 
receiving  cottage,  in  which  each  of  the  boys  should  be  placed  on  ar¬ 
rival,  and  in  which  he  should  remain  until  it  becomes  perfectly  clear 
to  the  Superintendent  (who  might  with  great  benefit  live  in  the  re¬ 
ceiving  cottage),  to  what  groiq)  a  boy  is  particularly  adapted. 

The  Commission  is  opposed  to  uniforms  of  any  kind,  and  believes 
the  boys  should  be  allowed  to  wear  such  clothing  as  their  relatives 
may  send  them,  or  as  they  may  select  from  that  furnished  by  the  in¬ 
stitution. 


-66- 


7.  Instruction : 


Every  boy  should  be  supervised  the  full  twenty-four  hours  of  each 
day.  He  should  be  kept  busy  all  his  waking  hours.  The  simple  vir¬ 
tues,  usually  lacking  in  delinquents — honesty,  perseverance  and  loy¬ 
alty — should  be  encouraged  by  definite  tasks.  The  Commission  would 
recommend  a  limited  amount  of  self-government  among  the  boys  as  a 
matter  of  education,  provided  that  whatever  form  self-government 
takes,  it  should  be  well  supervised  by  officers  and  teachers. 

The  central  school  building  should  be  in  charge  of  a  principal,  as¬ 
sisted  by  one  teacher  for  each  sixteen  boys.  These  sixteen  boys  should 
consist  of  one  cottage  unit,  ajid  the  teacher,  if  possible,  should  reside 
in  the  cottage  to  which  his  or  her  boys  in  the  schoolroom  belong. 
In  this  way  the  family  life  will  be  preserved  twenty-four  hours  in  the 
day.  The  only  point  of  contact  between  boys  in  the  different  cottages 
would  be  in  competitive  games,  and  in  such  common  exercise  as  might 
be  held  in  the  school  auditorium. 


8.  Admission  and  Release: 


All  admissions  to  the  institution  should  be  on  the  order  of  the 
Juvenile  Court,  and  all  releases,  while  made  technically  through  the 
Court,  should  be  made  only  on  recommendation  of  the  institution. 
Every  commitment  should  be  indeterminate,  a  boy  to  be  discharged 
from  the  institution  only  when  he  shows  he  is  capable  of  handling  him¬ 
self  under  the  normal  conditions  of  life  outside.  For  this  purpose,  the 
Commission  recommends  that  the  institution  employ  its  own  parole 
officers  for  supervising  the  boys  released.  All  orders  for  release  or  re¬ 
commitment  of  boys  who  violate  their  paroles  should  be,  of  course, 


made  in  the  Juvenile  Court. 

Parole  supervision  should  be  maintained  until  the  institution  sat¬ 
isfies  the  Court  that  either  the  boy  is  completely  cured  or  that  he  has 
failed  under  the  institution's  care  and  needs  the  dicipline  of  the  State 


Training  School. 


9.  Girls : 

For  the  small  number  of  delinquent  girls  who  may  need  tempo¬ 
rary  care  in  a  local  public  institution,  the  Commission  recommends  a 
cottage  as  widely  separated  as  possible  from  any  cottage  occupied  by 
bovs.  Their  school  instruction  should  be  confined  to  their  cottage. 
Otherwise  the  general  provisions  recommended  for  boys,  will  operate 
equally  well  for  girls. 


-67- 


House  of  Detention: 


The  means  of  detaining  children  held  for  the  Juvenile  Court,  de¬ 
scribed  on  page  38,  can  be  remedied  in  one  of  two  ways — either  by 
the  erection  of  a  small  institution  by  the  city,  or  by  the  use  of  some 
institution  now  owned  by  the  city.  The  commission  appreciates  that 
the  erection  of  a  new  institution  however  small,  would  cost  between 
$20,000.00  and  $35,000.00,  and  does  not  feel,  in  view  of  the  present 
financial  situation,  that  it  should  recommend  such  an  expenditure. 


The  Commission  does  recommend,  however,  that  the  city  either 
give  up  the  present  unsafe  and  unsanitary  House  of  Detention  or 
lease  another  building  better  suited  to  the  purpose;  or  that  a  special 
examination  of  the  present  House  by  the  Board  of  Public  Improve¬ 
ments  be  made  with  a  view  to  such  immediate  repairs  as  are  necessary 
to  put  it  in  a  thoroughly  safe  and  sanitary  condition. 


Juvenile  Court: 

The  importance  of  the  function  of  the  Juvenile  Court  in  prevent¬ 
ing  delinquent  and  dependent  children  from  being  committed  to  in¬ 
stitutions,  as  shown  on  page  40,  is  one  which  calls  for  some  further 
assistance  on  the  part  of  the  city,  if  the  city  is  to  decrease  the  expense 
of  institutional  care. 

The  probation  officers  are  appointed  by  the  circuit  judges,  after 
competitive  examination,  but  the  judges  may  appoint  only  so  many 
probation  officers  as  the  Municipal  Assembly  is  able  to  pay  for.  The 
appropriation  for  the  Juvenile  Court,  therefore,  dictates  the  number 
of  probation  officers  employed. 

The  cost  for  the  last  fiscal  year  of  operating  the  Probation  Office 
of  the  Juvenile  Court  has  been  about  $13,800.00.  In  order  that  the 
Probation  Office  may  effectively  perform  its  work  and  reduce  the 
average  number  of  children  in  the  care  of  one  probation  officer,  from 
167  to  approximately  100,  it  will  require  three  more  officers,  for 
which  an  additional  appropriation  of  $3,300  is  necessary.  The  Com¬ 
mission  urges  the  inclusion  of  that  additional  amount  in  the  appro¬ 
priation  for  the  Probation  Office  for  the  fiscal  year  1911-1912. 

Missouri  Training  School  and  State  Industrial  Home: 

The  Commission  cannot  pass  the  matter  of  the  care  of  St.  Louis 
boys  at  the  State  Training  School  at  Boonville,  Mo.,  without  recom¬ 
mending  that  some  steps  be  taken  at  once  to  secure  a  better  system  in 
that  institution  and  a  larger  appropriation  for  its  needs.  The  condi- 


68- 


tions  at  the  institution  are  almost  intolerable.  The  Commission  has 
called  the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  Governor  and  the  State  Board 
of  Charities  and  Correction. 

The  State  Industrial  Home  for  Girls  at  Chillicothe,  Mo.,  is  fre¬ 
quently  filled  to  its  limit  and  is  then  unable  to  accept  children  from 
St.  Louis.  The  appropriation  for  that  institution  and  its  facilities  for 
caring  for  girls,  should  be  enlarged,  unless  St.  Louis  is  to  expend  a 
considerable  amount  of  money  each  year  to  provide  local  facilities  for 
caring  for  such  delinquent  girls  as  cannot  gain  admission  to  Chillicothe 


DEPENDENT  CHILDREN. 

The  Commission  recommends,  unhesitatingly,  that  every  dependent 
child,  who  is  not  in  need  of  hospital  treatment,  be  cared  for  in  a  fam¬ 
ily  home,  either  by  boarding  out,  or,  in  the  case  of  orphans  and  others 
whose  parents  will  never  be  able  to  properly  care  for  them— in  free 
homes. 

For  the  purpose  of  placing  dependent  children  in  such  homes,  the 
Commission  recommends  the  establishment  of  a  Board  of  Children’s 
Guardians,  to  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor  and  serving  without  a  sal¬ 
ary,  which  would  employ  under  a  prescribed  civil  service,  such  assist¬ 
ants  as  will  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the  work.  Those  assistants 
would  consist  of  a  secretary,  who  should  direct  the  entire  work  of  car¬ 
ing  for  dependent  children  under  the  Board,  and  who  should  have 
under  her  or  him,  visitors  or  agents.  These  visitors  or  agents  should 
(1)  investigate  every  home  applying  for  the  care  of  a  child,  and  (2) 
the  case  of  every  child  for  whom  care  is  requested.  The  Board  should 
receive  dependent  children,  either  on  the  order  of  the  Juvenile  Court 
(which  may  find  children  either  neglected  or  dependent),  or  by  vol¬ 
untary  surrender  of  a  parent  or  guardian. 

The  voluntary  surrender  should  be  a  matter  of  record,  the  parent 
or  guardian  releasing  temporary  control  of  the  child  for  stated  reasons. 
Only  such  children  should  be  accepted  by  the  Board  for  whom  abso¬ 
lutely  no  other  provision  seems  possible  after  a  full  investigation. 
Every  attempt  should  be  made  to  keep  the  child  with  its  own  family,  or 
relatives,  and  no  pains  should  be  spared  to  exhaust  the  family  resources 
to  provide  for  the  child.  Even  distant  relatives  should  be  appealed  to. 
Deserting  fathers  should  be  brought  to  account  by  law,  and  in¬ 
terested  friends  and  neighbors  called  in  to  help,  rather  than  that  the 
Board  should  allow  public  funds  to  be  used 'for  the  care  of  such  a 
child. 


-69- 


The  Commission  wishes  to  place  its  whole  emphasis  as  to  the  care 
of  dependent  children  on  the  maintenance  of  the  family  relation. 

In  the  matter  of  the  Board’s  receiving  dependent  children,  the 
Commission  wants  to  call  attention  to  the  present  power  of  the  Mayor 
to  commit  children  to  the  Industrial  School.  That  power  is  the  sur¬ 
vival  of  an  old  custom,  the  exercise  of  which  is  a  burden  on  the 
Mayor’s  office,  and  under  the  modern  procedure  of  the  Juvenile  Court, 
quite  unnecessary. 

Destitute  Widows: 

In  maintaining  the  integrity  of  families,  the  Commission  calls 
attention  to  the  extremely  difficult  problem  of  the  proper  care  of 
widows  with  small  children.  As  shown  in  the  body  of  the  report,  that 
problem  is  met  in  different  ways  in  different  places,  and  there  appears 
to  be  a  considerable  difference  of  opinion  about  it.  It  seems  to  us  rea¬ 
sonable,  however,  that  a  woman — whose  husband  has  died  and  left 
her  destitute  with  small  children — is  entitled  to  keep  these  children 
at  home  with  her,  rather  than  to  have  them  placed  out  in  a  boarding- 
home,  or  in  an  institution,  at  a  doubtless  larger  cost  to  the  community. 

The  Commission  believes,  therefore,  that  it  is  preferable  to  board 
such  children  with  their  own  mothers,  if  that  term  may  be  used,  pay¬ 
ing  her  approximately  the  same  sum  which  would  be  paid  in  a  board¬ 
ing-home,  were  that  widowed  mother  obliged  to  give  up  her  children. 
It  seems  far  more  rational  to  pay  the  same  amount  of  money,  which 
would  have  to  be  paid  in  foster  homes  for  children  placed  out,  to 
the  mother  herself,  who  is  certainly  the  best  guardian  of  her  chil¬ 
dren’s  welfare.  We  realize  that  St.  Louis  would  be  the  first  American 
city  to  adopt  such  a  system  of  “boarding  children  with  their  own 
mothers,”  but  we  feel  that  such  a  method  is  sound  and  backed  up  by 
the  tendency  in  other  cities  today. 

On  account  of  the  difficulty  of  drawing  the  line  at  any  other 
point,  we  recommend  that  this  system  of  paying  for  children  in  their 
own  homes  be  confined  exclusively  to  the  cases  of  destitute  widows  with 
small  children.  In  cases  of  illness  of  the  father  (or  other  temporary 
distress),  private  charity  should  be  the  means  for  temporary  relief; 
and,  in  the  cases  of  deserting  husbands  there  is  a  strong  statute  (see 
page.  .  .  . ),  which  makes  the  desertion  of,  or  failure  to  support,  children 
on  the  part  of  a  father,  a  felony.  The  Commission  recommends  that 
the  Board  entrusted  with  the  care  of  dependent  children  should  be 
empowered  to  pay  for  the  return  of  any  deserting  husband,  in  order  to 
bring  him  to  justice  before  our  courts.  In  addition,  such  men  con- 


-70- 


dieted  of  wii e  and  child  abandonment,  need  tlie  most  careful  super¬ 
vision  when  paroled,  in  order  that  their  earnings  may  be  turned  over 
intact  for  the  benefit  of  their  wives  and  children.  The  Commission, 
therefore,  recommends  the  employment  of  one  or  more  parole  officers  in 
the  criminal  courts  for  this  purpose  alone. 


Number  of  Children  to  a  Visitor: 

The  number  of  supervisors,  or  visitors,  whom  it  will  be  necessary 
to  employ  to  look  after  children  placed  in  boarding  or  foster  homes,  is 
a  very  essential  consideration.  The  chief  difficulty  with  the  placing- 
out  system  in  other  communities  has  been  inefficient  supervision  after 
placement.  The  Commission  believes  that  the  question  of  the  number 
of  children  lo  each  supervisor  should  be  determined  largely  by  the 
factor  of  distance  which  a  supervisor  would  have  to  travel.  Should  she 
have  a  number  of  children  in  the  country,  the  number  she  could  visit 
would  be  proportionately  less  than  were  they  all  in  the  city.  The 
Commission  believes  that  one  person,  even  were  all  the  children 
under  her  supervision  in  the  country,  should  be  able  to  adequately 
supervise  at  least  sixty  children,  and  ordinarily,  eighty,  at  the  same 
time  including  in  her  work  the  investigation  of  the  homes  of  applicants 
for  children. 


Placement  in  Country  or  City: 

Regarding  the  placements  in  country  and  city,  the  Commission 
thinks  that  each  case  will  have  to  be  decided  on  its  individual  merits, 
remembering  that  the  city  offers  certain  advantages,  particularly  from 
the  educational  standpoint,  which  the  country  does  not.  Certainly 
the  children  who  most  need  fresh  air  and  country  life — that  is,  little 
children  and  those  who  are  delicate,  should  be  placed  in  the  country. 
The  suburbs  offer  an  excellent  home  for  all  children,  combining  educa¬ 
tional  advantages  and  healthful  freedom. 

Boarding  Homes : 

The  Commission  feels  certain  that  there  will  be  no  difficulty 
about  securing  an  adequate  number  of  good  homes  for  the  two  or  three 
hundred  dependent  children  who  will  doubtless  come  under  the  care 
of  the  Board  the  first  year.  The  experience  of  all  communities  has 
shown  that  good  foster  or  boarding  homes  can  be  had  in  plenty. 


-71- 


Tubercular,  Crippled  and  Diseased  Children: 

Regarding  the  tubercular,  crippled,  or  otherwise  diseased  chil¬ 
dren,  the  Commission  thinks  that  the  Massachusetts  system  of  placing- 
such  children  in  boarding  homes  may  not  be  altogether  desirable  here. 
The  cost  has  often  been  excessive,  $8.00  or  $9.00  per  week,  and  the 
care  inferior,  perhaps,  to  that  of  a  good  hospital.  The  procedure  in 
this  matter  again  will  have  to  be  dictated  by  the  needs  of  the  individ¬ 
ual  case.  The  Commission  wants  to  emphasize,  even  in  such  cases 
the  preservation  of  family  relations  between  children  and  their  own 
parents  wherever  possible. 

Payment  by  Parents : 

When  parents  surrender  their  children  on  account  of  destitution, 
even  though  it  be  temporarily,  they  should  be  required  to  pay  just 
as  much  as  they  can  afford  towards  the  maintenance  of  their  children, 
if  it  is  only  a  few  cents  a  week.  It  is  to  be  assumed,  of  course,  that 
every  case  has  been  thoroughly  investigated,  and  that  no  children  are 
received  by  the  public  office  who  are  not  in  real  need  of  assistance. 
No  father  or  mother  should  be  permitted  to  put  the  burden  of  the 
care  of  their  children  upon  the  community,  without  being  compelled 
(if  necessary),  to  do  everything  in  their  power  to  assist.  Such  cases, 
if  unresponsive  to  persuasion,  should  be  taken  into  the  Juvenile  Court 
and  the  order  for  maintenance  enforced  by  execution,  as  provided 
by  law. 

Visits  of  Parents : 

Parents  should  be  informed  of  their  children’s  whereabouts  when 
placed  out  in  boarding-homes,  and  should  be  allowed  to  visit  them 
in  all  cases  where  they  show  themselves  worthy.  The  privilege  of 
visitation  should  be  denied  such  parents  as  have  been  judged  unworthy 
in  the  Juvenile  Court. 

Rate  of  Payment: 

As  to  the  rate  to  be  paid  in  these  boarding  homes  for  children, 
the  Commission  recommends  that  a  maximum  be  established  beyond 
which  the  Board  having  the  matter  in  charge  may  not  go,  without  spe¬ 
cial  authority  from  the  Comptroller.  That  maximum  the  Commission 
feels,  should  be  $3.50  per  week.  .Usually  good  board  can  be  obtained 
at  from  $1.50  to  $2.75  per  week.  The  per  capita  cost  in  an  institution 


is  usually  over  $4.00,  so  that  even  a  maximum  of  $3.50  is  not  exces¬ 
sive.  The  Board  should  supply  clothing  for  the  children,  costing  on 
an  average  $15.00  to  $20.00  a  year,  and  should  pay  doctors’  bills,  when 
medical  treatment  is  necessary. 


Medical  Aid: 

1  he  Board  should  have  the  power  to  have  sick  children  placed  in 
private  hospitals  in  cases  where  public  hospitals  cannot  take  them, 
and  they  should  be  paid  for  when  they  cannot  be  admitted  as  charity 
patients.  Such  payment  should  be  certified  in  each  case  by  the  Comp¬ 
troller’s  office,  if  in  excess  of  the  maximum  amount  of  $3.50  a  week. 

Foundlings : 

In  regard  to  the  care  of  foundlings  and  little  babies,  the  Commis¬ 
sion  recommends  strongly  their  placement  in  boarding  homes  like  other 
dependent  children.  These  boarding  homes  can  be  kept  constantly  open 
to  the  Board,  so  that  they  may  be  reached  at  a  moment’s  notice,  dav 
or  night,  the  Board,  if  necessary,  paying  them  a  sum  weekly  for 
holding  themselves  thus  ready. 

Foundlings  and  babies  should  be  placed  with  wet  nurses  wherever 
possible,  such  boarding  homes  being  preferable  to  homes  in  which  they 
must  be  raised  on  the  bottle. 


Receiving  Station: 

The  Commission  has  considered  at  length  the  question  as  to 
whether  a  receiving  station,  for  the  temporary  care  of  dependent  chil¬ 
dren  is  necessary.  Most  of  the  Commission’s  consultants  agreed  that 
local  conditions  would  largely  determine  that  question,  although  the 
Massachusetts  system,  by  which  homes  are  constantly  open  in  the  city, 
seems  to  have  met  the  situation  adequately  without  a  receiving  home. 

The  Commission  recommends,  therefore,  that  no  receiving  station 
be  established  at  first,  and  that  the  Board  attempt  to  work  out  the  prob¬ 
lem  by  means  of  the  use  of  the  House  of  Detention  (if  necessary),  in 
connection  with  whatever  open  boarding-liomes  are  used,  as  under 
the  Massachusetts  plan.  The  most  potent  argument  against  a  receiv¬ 
ing  station  of  any  kind  is  the  fact  that  it  is  often  tied  up  by  quarantine, 
which  destroys  its  usefulness. 

DEFECTIVE  CHILDREN. 

The  problem  of  feeble-minded  children  is  one  which  calls  for 
their  care  by  the  State  for  the  reasons  given  in  this  report.  It  is  almost 
needless  for  the  Commission  to  call  attention  to  the  lack  of  facilities  of 


-73- 


the  State  Colony  at  Marshall, 
other  public  officers,  have  been 


for  the  State  Board  of  Charities  and 
urging  tor  some  time  the  enlargement  of 


facilities  for  that  institution. 


The  Commission  does  want  to  recommend,  however,  provisions 
for  the  temporary  care  of  those  feeble-minded  children  now  in  the 
City  Infirmary,  in  private  institutions,  or  in  their  own  homes  here  in 
St.  Louis,  pending  the  enlargement  of  the  colony  at  Marshall.  Only 

two  plans  are  possible  to  provide  for  their  adequate  care  and  training. 

One  is  the  establishment  of  a  separate  ward  in  charge  of  a  qualified 
director  at  either  the  City  Infirmary  or  the  City  Sanitarium.  This 
plan  has  two  objections.  The  first  is  that  the  contact  between  children 
and  adults  cannot  be  entirely  avoided ;  and,  second,  that  the  educa¬ 
tional  work,  so  necessary  for  feeble-minded  children,  cannot  be  so  well 
done  in  these  institutions,  as  in  an  institution  with  better  educational 
facilities. 

The  second  plan  is  to  have  the  children  cared  for  in  a  separate 
ward,  or  rooms,  at  the  present  Industrial  School,  or  a  separate  cottage 
when  that  institution  is  moved  to  the  country.  They  could  be  prac¬ 
tically  separated  from  all  other  children  and  they  could  have  the 
very  best  educational  training.  The  Commission  does  not  regard  their 
removal  to  the  Industrial  School  as  a  necessity,  provided  proper  ar¬ 
rangements  can  be  made  at  the  Infirmary.  The  Commission  does  rec- 
ommend  their  separation  from  all  other  classes  of  adults  and  children, 
and  their  intelligent  treatment  as  a  group  along  educational  lines. 


BRIEF  SUMMARY  OF  CHIEF  RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The  Commission  recommends — 

1.  The  entire  separation  of  the  groups  of  dependent  and  delin¬ 
quent  children. 

2.  The  placing  out  of  all  dependent  children,  whether  they  must 
be  cared  for  temporarily  or  permanently,  in  family  homes,  to  be  paid 
for,  when  necessary,  by  the  city. 

3.  The  sale  of  the  present  Industrial  School  plant  and  its  re¬ 
location  in  the  country  on  the  cottage  plan,  to  care  for  delinquent  chil¬ 
dren  only,  boys  and  girls,  white  and  colored,  in  separate  cottage 
groups.  The  institution,  if  possible,  should  be  under  the  control  and 

management  of  the  Board  of  Eduction,  since  it  is  primarily  educa¬ 
tional  in  its  function. 


-74- 


4.  The  temporary  care  and  education  of  the  feeble-minded  chil¬ 
dren  at  the  Infirmary  and  other  institutions,  as  a  separate  group,  either 
in  a  ward  at  the  Infirmary,  City  Sanitarium  or  at  the  Industrial 
School. 

5.  The  establishment  of  a  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians  of 
seven  persons  appointed  by  the  Mayor  and  serving  without  salary,  to 
have  full  charge  of  the  care  of  all  children  for  whom  the  city  is  re¬ 
sponsible. 


LEGISLATION. 

In  order  to  accomplish  the  recommendations  made  by  the  Commis¬ 
sion,  the  following  legislation  is  necessary.  (For  copies  of  each  act 
and  ordinance  see  pages  81  to  90. 

State  Laws: 

1.  An  act  to  repeal  the  Industrial  School  Act  of  1873.* 

2.  An  amendment  to  the  Compulsory  School  Attendance  Act  Sec¬ 
tion  7,  providing  that  the  Board  of  Education  may  establish  an  insti¬ 
tution  for  the  correction  of  delinquent  children  committed  to  it  by  a 
court,  the  maintenance  of  such  children  (that  is,  their  food  and  cloth¬ 
ing),  to  be  paid  for  by  the  city  under  arrangement  with  the  Board  of 
Education. 

3.  An  amendment  to  the  Juvenile  Court  Act,  permitting  the  Juve¬ 
nile  Court  to  commit  children  to  an  institution  so  established  by  the 
Board  of  Education. 

4.  An  act  authorizing  cities  having  500,000  inhabitants  or  more, 
to  establish  a  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians  for  the  care  of  all  de¬ 
linquent,  dependent  and  defective  children  committed  to  it,  or  who 
otherwise  become  public  charges,  providing  such  Board  shall  have 
the  right  to  place  dependent  children  in  family  homes,  safeguarding 
their  religious  faith,  and  permitting  the  city  to  pay  the  board  of  such 
children  in  such  homes. 

*  This  action  by  the  Legislature  is  necessary  in  order  to  give  St.  Louis 
control  of  the  care  of  her  own  delinquent  and  dependent  children.  The  Indus¬ 
trial  School,  at  present,  is  controlled  by  legislative  enactment,  although  the  Chat - 
ter  authorizes  the  City  to  maintain  an  Industrial  School. 


City  Ordinances: 

3.  An  ordinance  continuing  in  force  the  present  management  of 
the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School,  as  provided  by  statute,  in  order  that 
that  management  may  continue  uninterruptedly  until  other  provision 
is  made  by  ordinance. 

2.  An  ordinance  to  provide  for  all  the  children  in  the  city’s 
care  and  creating  a  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians,  abolishing  the 
Board  of  Managers  of  the  Industrial  School. 

ESTIMATE  OF  COST. 

(See  pages  78  and  79.) 

The  estimates  made  for  the  proposed  system  are  what  might  be 
called  conservative.  It  is  possible  that  the  figures  in  some  instances 
may  run  higher  than  the  estimates.  The  Commission  believes,  how¬ 
ever,  that  the  cost  under  the  proposed  system  will  be  very  materially 
less  than  under  the  present  because  of  three  factors: 

First,  the  system  of  caring  for  dependent  children  in  family  homes 
is  much  cheaper  than  institutional  care.  Second,  a  large  number  of 
dependent  children,  50  per  cent  to  70  per  cent,  now  in  the  Industrial 
School,  do  not  need  to  be  cared  for  by  the  city  at  all.  Third,  the 
newer  methods  of  supervision  of  neglected  and  delinquent  children 
in  their  own  homes  by  the  Juvenile  Court  tends  to  reduce  largely  the 
number  committed  to  institutions. 

The  figures  given  in  the  Table  of  Cost  indicate  that  a  considerable 
saving  is  effected  in  the  expense  of  caring  for  dependent  children, 
both  delinquent  and  defective  children  costing  more  under  the  pro¬ 
posed  system.  The  increase  for  these  groups,  however,  is  less  than 
the  decrease  in  the  dependent  group. 

The  entire  problem  of  the  cost  of  construction  and  maintenance 
of  a  cottage  institution  for  delinquents  is  so  thoroughly  and  clearly 
set  forth  in  the  publication  entitled  “ Cottage  and  Congregate  Institu¬ 
tions,”  by  Hastings  II.  Hart  of  the  Department  of  Child  Placing,  Rus¬ 
sell  Sage  Foundation,  that  the  Commission  omits  any  detailed  figures 
here. 

The  following  explanations  are  given  of  the  figures  submitted : 

Under  Plan  No.  1,  the  cost  of  maintaining  a  cottage  institution 
( $39,000.00)  is  based  on  the  care  of  200  children,  according  to  the  es¬ 
timates  given  in  a  study  of  the  cost  of  cottage  and  congregate  insti¬ 
tutions  published  by  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation. 

Plan  No.  2  contemplates  the  expenditure  of  a  per  capita  of  $10.00 
per  month  by  the  city  to  the  Board  for  200  boys,  $24,000.00.  t  he  cost 


-76- 


of  instruction,  including  the  trade  instruction  now  given  by  the  City 
in  the  Industrial  School,  will  cost  almost  half  as  much  again  under 
the  cottage  plan. 

Plan  No.  3  contemplates  the  continuance  of  the  trade  instruction 
under  the  control  of  the  city,  and  the  school  room  instruction  under 
the  control  of  the  Board.  The  same  standard  of  instruction  under 
Plan  1  will,  therefore,  equal  the  same  amount  of  increase,  $7,000.00, 
making  a  total  of  $31,000.00  expense  to  the  city  under  Plan  No.  3. 

Plan  No.  4,  by  which  the  only  change  is  the  removal  of  the  de¬ 
pendent  children  from  the  present  Industrial  School,  will  increase  the 
per  capita  slightly,  and  result  in  an  increased  cost  for  delinquent  chil¬ 
dren  to  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  city. 

The  increase  in  the  cost  of  the  probation  system  of  the  Juvenile 
Court  is  accounted  for  by  the  recommended  addition  of  three  officers 
at  $1,000.00  a  year  each. 

The  cost  of  the  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians,  according  to  the 
experience  of  other  communities,  will  be  about  as  follows : 

The  average  board  of  a  child  in  a  family  home,  including  those 
children  who  could  be  placed  out  in  free  homes,  with  clothing  and  med¬ 
ical  attention,  will  be  $2.00  to  $2.25  a  week.  It  is  certain  that  a  large 
number  of  children  now  in  the  care  of  the  city  can  be  cared  for  by 
their  own  relatives,  or  by  other  means.  The  proportion  of  dependent 
children,  therefore,  to  be  cared  for,  including  those  now  at  St.  Ann’s, 
the  Bethesda  and  the  Colored  Orphans’  Home,  will  probably  not  ex¬ 
ceed  250.  This  would  give  a  total  of  board  bills  for  the  year,  using 
the  low  estimate  of  cost,  of  $26,000.00.  The  cost  of  administration  will 


approximately  be  as  follows : 

Office  stationery  and  office  expenses . $  800.00* 

Salary  of  one  general  secretary .  2,400.00 

Three  assistants  at  $900.00 .  2,700.00 

One  stenographer  at  $800.00 .  800.00 

Carfare  and  traveling  expenses .  300.00 


$7,000.00 
Board . $26,000.00 


Total . $33,000.00 

Defective  Children: 


The  present  cost  in  the  Infirmary  is  estimated  at  $2.00  a  week  a 
child.  The  cost  of  their  adequate  care  as  a  separate  group  will  be 
larger  from  a  maintenance  standpoint,  and  their  instruction  by  a 
teacher  from  the  Board  of  Education  would  cost  the  Board  at  least 
$1,000.00  a  year. 

*Assuming  that  offices  may  be  secured  in  a  municipal  building. 


-77- 


1.  Delinquents: 


TABLE  OF  COST. 


Estimated  Approximate 

(a)  Industrial  School — •  Proposed  Cost.  Present  Cost. 

Plan  No.  1  (See  page  62). 

To  City .  $24,000.00* 

To  Board  of  Education .  $39,000.00  8,000.00t 

$39,000.00  $32,000.00 

Plan  No.  2  (See  page  63). 

To  City .  $24,000.00  $24,000.00* 

To  Board  of  Education .  15,000.00  8,000.00t 


$39,000.00  $32,000.00 

Plan  No.  3  (See  page  63). 

To  City .  $31,000.00  $24,000.00* 

To  Board  of  Education .  8,000.00  8,000.00t 


$39,000.00  $32,000.00 

Plan  No.  4  (See  page  63). 

To  City .  $26,000.00  $24,000.00* 

To  Board  of  Education .  9,000.00  8,000.00t 

$35,000.00  $32,000.00 

(b)  House  of  Detention .  $4,000.00  $  4,000.00 

(c)  Probation  System,  Juvenile  Court .  $17,000.00  $14,000.00 

Total  cost  under  any  arrangement,  except 

Plan  4 .  $60,000.00  $50,000.00 

Total  cost  under  Plan  4 .  $55,000.00  $50,000.00 

2.  Dependents: 

(a)  Industrial  School — 

To  City .  $36,000.00 

To  Board  of  Education .  12,000.00 

(b)  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians .  $33,000.00 

(c)  Foundlings  boarded  at  St.  Ann’s,  Beth- 

esda  and  Colored  Orphans’  Home .  4,500.00 


Total  cost  of  dependents .  $33,000.00  $52,500.00 

3.  Defectives: 

(a)  City  Infirmary  or  Industrial  School  (17 
children) — • 

To  City .  $  2,000.00  $  1,750.00 

To  Board  of  Education .  1,000.00  . 

Total  cost  of  defectives .  $  3,000.00  $  1,750.00 

Total  cost  of  all  three  groups  (excepting 

Plan  4) .  $96,000.00  $104,250.00 

Total  cost  of  all  three  groups  under  Plan  4  $92,000.00  $104,250.00 


*  The  delinquent  population  is  practically  two-fifths  of  the  total  population 
of  the  school.  $24,000.00  is  two-fifths  of  the  average  annual  expenditure  of 
$60,000.00. 

f  This  is  two-fifths  of  the  average  annual  expenditure  of  $20,000.00  by  the 
Board  of  Education. 

NOTE — The  only  other  expense  to  the  City  on  account  of  delinquent  chil¬ 
dren  is  at  the  Missouri  Training  School  and  the  Girls’  Industrial  Home  at 
Chillicothe.  The  number  of  children  committed  to  these  institutions  is  declin¬ 
ing,  and  the  cost  to  the  City  will  be  less  rather  than  more. 


-78- 


For  the  purposes  of  comparison  the  following  statement  of  the 
actual  cost  of  the  above  items  for  the  fiscal  year  1909-1910  is  given  : 

Industrial  School,  cost  to  City . $  62,656.59 

Industrial  School,  cost  to  Board  of  Education .  21,989.92 

House  of  Detention .  5,302.10 

Probation  Office,  Juvenile  Court .  10,105.00 

Care  of  foundlings  in  Bethesda,  St.  Ann’s  and  Colored  Orphans’  Home  4,447.45 
City  Infirmary  (17  children),  only  estimated  cost  obtainable .  1,750.00 

$106,251.06 


-79- 


PART  IV. 

PRESENT  LAWS  RELATING  TO  PUBLIC  CARE  OF  CHILDREN. 

I.  Relating  to  Industrial  School: 

1.  An  act  creating  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  St.  Louis  House 
of  Refuge  and  providing  for  the  maintenance  and  conduct  by  the 
city  of  that  institution;  act  of  1873,  laws  of  Missouri  1873,  pp.  353, 
354,  355  and  356;  and  also  Revised  Code  of  St.  Louis,  pp.  162,  163 
and  164. 

2.  Name  of  the  House  of  Refuge  changed  to  the  St.  Louis  Indus¬ 
trial  School;  Ordinance  22145,  approved  November  21st,  1905. 

3.  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Industrial  School  authorized  to 
contract  with  the  Board  of  Education  for  the  education  of  the  inmates 
thereof:  Section  10895,  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

II.  Relating  to  Delinquent,  Neglected  and  Dependent  Children: 

1.  Juvenile  Court  act:  Sections  4098  to  4122  inclusive,  Revised 
Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

2.  Compulsory  school  attendance  act :  Sections  10896  to  10917 
inclusive,  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

3.  Child  labor  act:  Sections  1715  to  1726  inclusive,  Revised  Stat¬ 
utes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

4.  Act  relating  to  the  Missouri  Training  School  for  Boys,  at 
Boonville,  Mo.,  and  concerning  commitments  to  it :  Sections  1524  to 
1542  inclusive,  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

5.  Act  relating  to  the  State  Industrial  Home  for  Girls,  at  Chilli- 
cotlie,  Mo.,  and  concerning  commitments  to  it:  Sections  1543  to  1547 
inclusive,  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

6.  Act  relating  to  the  State  Industrial  Home  for  Negro  Girls : 
Sections  1558  to  1570  inclusive,  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

7.  Punishment  provided  for  parent  or  other  person  having  legal 
care  of  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  for  refusal  or  neglect  to  pro¬ 
vide  therefor:  Section  4492,  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

8.  Ordinance  governing  the  House  of  Detention  :  Ordinance  25322, 
approved  July  8tli,  1910. 

9.  Provisions  for  the  placing  of  foundlings  in  Bethesda,  St.  Ann’s 
Widows’  Home,  Infant  Asylum  and  Lying-In  Hospital  and  St.  Louis 
Colored  Orphans’  Home:  Sections  1728,  1729,  1730  and  1731, 
of  the  Revised  Code  of  St.  Louis. 

III.  Defective  Children : 

1.  Act  relating  to  the  Colony  for  Feeble-Minded  and  Epileptic, 
and  concerning  commitments  thereto :  Sections  1499  to  1510  inclusive, 
Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909. 

-80- 


LAWS  PROPOSED  BY  THE  COMMISSION. 


An  Act  to  Repeal  an  Act  Entitled  “An  Act  Concerning  the  Saint  Louis 
House  of  Refuge,”  Approved  February  24th,  1873,  Laws  of  Mis¬ 
souri,  1873,  Pages  353,  354,  355,  356,  and  Being  Article  21  of  the 
Appendix  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1899,  Under  the 
General  Title  of  “Laws  Specially  Applicable  to  the  City  of  Saint 
Louis,”  Pages  2553,  2554,  2555,  2556. 

Be  It  Enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  as 
Follows  : 

Section  1.  That  an  act  entitled  “An  Act  Concerning  the  Saint 
Louis  House  of  Refuge,”  approved  February  24th,  1873,  “Laws  of 
Missouri  of  1873,”  pages  353,  354,  355  and  356,  and  being  Article 
21  of  the  Appendix  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1899,  under 
the  general  title  of  “Laws  Specially  Applicable  to  the  City  of  Saint 
Louis,”  pages  2553,  2554,  2555  and  2556,  be  and  the  same  is  hereby 
repealed. 

An  Act  to  Repeal  Section  10900  of  Article  6  of  Chapter  106  of  the  Re¬ 
vised  Statutes  of  Missouri  of  1909,  Pertaining  to  Compulsory 
Attendance  of  Children,  and  Providing  Truant  or  Parental  Schools, 
and  to  enact  a  New  Section  in  Lieu  Thereof,  to  Be  Known  as 
Section  10900. 

Be  It  Enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  as 
Follows : 

Section  1.  That  Section  10900  of  Article  6  of  Chapter  106  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri  of  1909,  pertaining  to  compulsory  attend¬ 
ance  of  children  and  providing  for  truant  or  parental  schools,  is  here¬ 
by  repealed,  and  a  new  section  is  hereby  enacted  in  lieu  thereof,  to  be 
known  as  Section  10900,  as  follows : 

“Section  10900.  The  Board  having  charge  of  the  public  schools 
of  any  district  now  having,  or  which  may  hereafter  have,  10,000  in¬ 
habitants  or  more,  may  establish  and  maintain  from  the  public  school 
funds  one  or  more  special  truant  or  parental  schools  in  such  city  or 
district  for  children  who  are  either  habitual  truants  from  any  day 
school  in  which  they  are  enrolled  as  pupils,  or  who,  while  in  attend¬ 
ance  at  any  school  are  incorrigible,  vicious,  or  immoral,  or  who  habit- 


-81— 


iirtll v  wander  or  loiter  about  the  streets  or  roads,  or  other  public  places 
without  lawtul  employment,  or  who,  in  the  opinion  of  such  Board  or 
of  its  superintendent  of  instruction,  require  special  attention  and  in¬ 
struction;  all  such  children  may  hv  said  School  Board,  through  its  offi¬ 
cers,  be  assigned  to  and  required  and  compelled  to  attend  such  special 
truant  or  parental  school,  or  any  department  of  the  graded  schools  as 
such  Board  may  direct ;  and  any  such  Board  of  Education  may  also  es¬ 
tablish  and  maintain  from  the  public  school  funds,  either  within  or 
without  its  district,  a  parental  school  for  the  care  and  education  of 
any  child  resident  of  said  school  district  adjudged  to  be  a  delinquent 
and  committed  to  it  by  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction  therein; 
provided,  however,  that  for  every  such  delinquent  child  thus  commit¬ 
ted  to  such  school  there  shall  be  paid  to  such  Board  of  Education  out 
of  the  treasury  of  said  city  or  county,  the  sum  of  ten  dollars  ($10.00) 
per  month  for  the  support,  maintenance,  clothing  and  other  expenses 
of  such  child  from  the  time  of  its  entrance  into  said  school  until  its 
discharge  therefrom.  ” 


An  Act  to  Amend  Section  4114  of  Article  6  of  Chapter  35  of  the  Re¬ 
vised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909,  Relating  to  Juvenile  Courts  in 
Certain  Counties  of  50,000  and  Over,  by  Adding  a  Clause  Thereto 
Permitting  Children  to  Enter  Schools  Now  or  Hereafter  Estab¬ 
lished  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  Such  County. 


Be  It  Enacted  by  the  General 
Follows : 


Assemblv  of  the  State1  of  Missouri,  as 

*/  7 


Section  1.  That  Section  4114  of  Article  6  of  Chapter  35  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  1909,  relating  to  Juvenile  Courts  in  cer¬ 
tain  counties  now  or  hereafter  having  a  population  of  50,000  inhab¬ 
itants  or  more,  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  amended  by  adding  thereto 
the  following  clause,  to-wit :  “or  to  any  special,  truant  or  parental 
school  which  now  or  hereafter  may  be  established  by  the  Board  of 
Education  of  said  county";  so  that  said  Section  4114  when  amended 
shall  read  as  follows: 


‘'Section  4114.  In  the  case  of  a  delinquent  child,  the  court  may 

suspend  the  sentence  or  execution  thereof  from  time  to  time,  and 

mav  in  the  meantime  commit  the  child  to  the  care  and  control  of  a 
«/ 

probation  officer  duly  appointed  by  the  court,  and  may  allow  such 
child  to  remain  in  its  home,  subject  to  the  visitation  and  control  of 
the  probation  officer,  such  child  to  report  to  the  probation  officer  as 
often  as  may  be  required,  and  to  be  subject  to  be  returned  to  the  court 


—  82 


for  further  proceedings  whenever  such  action  may  appear  to  the 
court  to  be  necessary;  or  the  court  may  authorize  the  child  to  be 
placed  in  a  suitable  family  home,  subject  to  t lie  friendly  supervision 
of  a  probation  officer  and  the  further  order  of  the  court,  or  it  may 
authorize  the  child  to  be  boarded  out  in  some  suitable  family  home,  in 
case  provision  is  made  by  voluntary  contribution  or  otherwise  for 
payment  of  the  board  of  such  child,  until  suitable  provision  may  be 
made  for  the  child  in  a  home  without  such  payment  ;  or  the  court  may 
commit  the  child,  if  a  boy,  to  the  Missouri  Training  School  for  Boys,  or 
if  a  girl,  to  the  State  Industrial  School  for  Girls;  or  the  court  may  com¬ 
mit  the  child  to  any  institution  within  the  county,  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  this  State,  that  may  care  for  children,  or  to  any  institution 
which  now  or  hereafter  may  be  established  by  the  State  or  County  for 
the  care  of  boys  or  girls,  or  to  any  special  truant  or  parental  school 
which  now  or  hereafter  may  be  established  by  the  Board  of  Educa¬ 
tion  of  said  County.” 

An  Act  to  Authorize  and  Empower  Any  City  Now  or  Hereafter  Having 
Five  Hundred  Thousand  Inhabitants  or  More  to  Create  by  Ordi¬ 
nance  a  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians,  the  Number  of  Whose 
Members,  Their  Terms  of  Office,  Their  Qualifications,  Compensa¬ 
tion,  Duties  and  Powers  to  Be  Prescribed  by  Ordinance;  and  Au¬ 
thorizing  Such  Board  to  Manage  Any  Public  Institution  in  Such 
City  for  the  Care  of  Delinquent,  Dependent  or  Defective  Children 
of  Such  City;  and  Authorizing  Such  Board  to  Receive  Delinquent, 
Dependent  and  Defective  Children  and  to  Place  Them  in  Public 
Institutions  or  with  Families,  and  Permitting  Any  Such  City  to 
Provide  for  the  Payment  for  the  Care  of  Any  Such  Child  in  Any 
Public  Institution  or  with  Any  Family. 

Be  It  Enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Missouri,  as  Follows: 

Section  1.  Any  city  in  this  State  now  or  hereafter  having  five 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants  or  more  is  authorized  and  empowered 
to  create  by  ordinance  a  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians,  the  number 
of  whose  members,  their  terms  of  office,  their  qualifications,  compensa¬ 
tion,  duties  and  powers  to  be  prescribed  by  ordinance.  Such  Board 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor. 

Section  2.  Such  Board  shall  have  the  power  and  authority  to 
manage  any  public  institution  that  now  exists  or  may  hereafter  be 
established  by  any  such  city  for  the  care  and  maintenance  of  delin¬ 
quent,  dependent  or  defective  children  of  such  city. 


-83- 


Section  3.  Said  Hoard  shall  have  power  and  authority  to  receive 
upon  commitment  to  it  by  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction  in  such 
city  and  to  take  charge  of  any  child,  and  to  receive  and  take  charge  of 
any  dependent  or  defective  child  who  is  a  public  charge  on  such  city, 
for  such  care  and  treatment  as  such  Board  may  determine. 

Section  4.  Said  Board  shall  have  power  and  authority  to  place 
any  child  in  its  charge  or  under  its  control  in  any  public  institution 
in  this  State  suitable  for  such  child,  or  with  any  family  qualified  and 
able  in  the  opinion  of  such  Board  to  provide  for  the  comfort  and 
wants  of  such  child  and  to  care  for  its  moral  and  physical  welfare, 
provided  that  no  child  shall  be  placed  with  any  family  where  the  head 
thereof  is  of  different  religious  affiliation  from  that  of  the  child’s 
former  parents  or  guardians,  if  such  affiliation  can  be  ascertained. 

Section  4.  Any  such  city  shall  have  the  power  to  provide  by 
ordinance  for  the  payment  by  such  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians  for 
the  care  and  maintenance  of  any  child  in  any  public  institution  or 
with  anv  family. 

An  Ordinance  Concerning  the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School  and  Pro¬ 
viding  for  Its  Administration  and  Creating  a  Board  of  Managers 
Therefor. 

Be  It  Ordained  by  the  Municipal  Assembly  of  the  City  of  Saint  Louis, 
as  Follows : 

Section  1.  The  institution  known  as  the  Saint  Louis  Industrial 
School  shall  hereafter  be  under  the  control  of  a  Board  of  Managers, 
to  be  appointed  as  soon  after  the  first  day  of  April,  1911,  as  practi¬ 
cable,  which  consist  of  five  members,  four  of  whom  shall  be  appointed 
by  the  Mayor;  and  the  Mayor  of  the  city  shall  be  ex  officio  a  member 
of  and  president  of  said  Board. 

Section  2.  The  Mayor  shall  appoint  one  member  for  the  period  of 
one  year;  one  member  for  the  period  of  two  years;  one  member  for 
the  period  of  three  years,  and  one  member  for  the  period  of  four  years. 
The  Board  of  Managers  so  appointed  shall  organize,  by  election  among 
their  members  of  a  vice-president  and  a  secretary;  a  majority  of  said 
Board  of  Managers  shall  constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  any 
business  or  the  exercise  of  any  power  conferred  upon  said  Board. 

Section  3.  Every  child  found  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis  in  a  state 
of  want,  or  abandoned,  or  improperly  exposed,  and  grossly  neglected 


-84- 


by  its  parents  or  persons  having  its  charge,  and  every  child  of  any 
person  in  said  city  or  county  convicted  of  being  a  common  prostitute, 
or  keeper  of  a  bawdy  house  or  house  of  resort  for  prostitutes  or  of 
assignation,  and  every  child  found  living  in  such  house,  may  be  com¬ 
mitted  to  said  Industrial  School  by  the  Mayor,  or  by  any  court  in 
St.  Louis  having  competent  jurisdiction,  upon  complaint  and  competent 
proofs  of  the  facts  charged. 

Section  4.  All  males  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  and  females 
under  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  shall  be  liable  to  commitment  to  the 
industrial  school  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  following 
section ;  and  any  parent  or  guardian  having  legal  power  to  apprentice 
any  male  child  or  ward  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  or  any  female 
child  or  ward,  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  who  shall,  in  writing, 
by  him  or  her  signed,  represent  to  the  board  of  managers  of  said 
industrial  school  that  such  child  or  ward  is  a  proper  and  fit  subject 
for  admission  into  said  industrial  school,  stating  the  particular  facts 
which  constitute  such  fitness,  and  petitioning  said  managers  to  take 
charge  of  said  child  or  ward,  may  be  examined  in  relation  thereto 
by  said  board  of  managers,  who  are  authorized  to  receive  all  such 
children  or  wards  at  their  discretion;  the  expenses  of  such  child  or 
ward  before  such  reception  shall  be  secured  to  be  paid  by  the  parent 
or  guardian,  unless  in  cases  where  the  managers,  for  good  cause,  shall 
otherwise  determine ;  and  in  all  cases  where  such  payment  is  ordered 
to  be  made  by  such  parent  or  guardian,  it  shall  be  according  to  the 
rates  fixed  in  the  general  regulations  hereinafter  provided  for;  but 
in  no  case  shall  any  child  be  committed  to  the  industrial  school  under 
the  age  of  three  years ;  and  all  minors  committed  thereto  shall  be 
under  the  control  of  said  board  of  managers,  until  discharged  under 
the  provisions  of  this  act  or  under  the  general  laws  of  the  state. 

Section  5.  The  mayor  shall  have  authority  to  order  the  discharge 
of  any  inmate  from  the  industrial  school  when,  in  his  opinion,  an 
urgent  reason  exists  for  granting  such  discharge  before  the  next  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  board  of  managers,  but  in  all  other  cases  applications  shall 
be  made  to  said  board,  which  shall  dispose  of  the  same  at  a  regular 
meeting.  The  said  board  may  surrender  any  inmate  of  said  indus¬ 
trial  school,  not  convicted  of  crime,  to  its  parents  or  guardian,  or  if 
it  have  no  parents  or  guardian,  to  the  managers  of  any  asylum  within 
the  City  of  St.  Louis,  or  chartered  protectorate,  who  may  desire  to 
take  charge  of  same  at  their  own  expense:  Provided,  such  persons 


-85- 


shall  satisfy  the  board  of  managers  as  to  the  qualification  and  ability 
to  provide  for  the  comfort  and  wants  of  such  child,  and  to  care  for 
their  moral  and  physical  welfare;  and  provided,  further,  that  no 
child  shall  be  surrendered  to  or  placed  in  such  asylum  or  protectorate, 
the  officers  or  managers  whereof,  or  a  majority  of  them,  are  of  differ¬ 
ent  religious  tenets  from  those  of  its  former  parents  or  guardians, 
if  such  tenets  can  be  ascertained ;  and  provided,  also,  that  no  such 
asylum  or  protectorate  shall  have  any  claim  upon  the  City  of  St. 
Louis  or  upon  any  public  fund  whatever,  for  or  in  respect  of  the 
care  or  support  of  any  such  child,  nor  on  account  of  any  expense 
incurred  on  account  thereof.  The  board  shall  meet  not  less  than 
twice  in  each  month  for  the  auditing  of  ])ills  and  other  business. 

Section  6.  All  males  under  sixteen  years  of  age  and  females 
under  fourteen  years  of  age  who  shall,  under  existing  laws  of  the 
State  of  Missouri  or  ordinance  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  or  such  as 
may  hereafter  be  enacted  or  passed,  be  liable  to  confinement  in  the 
work-house  or  jail  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  may,  at  the  discretion  of 
the  court  or  magistrate  giving  sentence,  be  placed  in  said  industrial 
school,  and  when  so  placed  in  said  industrial  school,  shall  be  under  the 
control  of  the  board  of  managers  thereof. 

Section  7.  Said  board  of  managers  of  said  industrial  school 
shall  have  power  and  authority: 

First — To  make  all  needful  contracts  for  said  industrial  school, 
its  officers  and  inmates,  subject  to  such  conditions  as  may  be  imposed 
bv  ordinance. 

Is 

Second — To  make,  establish,  alter  and  enforce  all  needful  regu¬ 
lations  for  the  government  and  control  of  said  industrial  school,  its 
officers  and  inmates. 

Third — To  make  all  needful  by-laws  for  the  government  of  said 
industrial  school. 

Fourth — To  employ  and  appoint  such  officers  as  may  be  needful. 

Fifth — To  apprentice  any  inmate  of  said  industrial  school  until 
the  time  when  such  inmate  shall  reach  the  age  of  eighteen  years. 


Section  8.  The  said  board  of  managers  shall  submit  to  the 
municipal  assembly  annually,  an  estimate  of  the  sum  needed  for  the 
maintenance  and  operation  of  said  industrial  school.  All  bills  pre¬ 
sented  for  payment  shall  be  signed  by  not  less  than  two  members  of 
said  board  of  managers  and  approved  by  the  city  comptroller. 


86- 


Section  9.  The  mayor  shall  appoint  a  superintendent  and  a 
matron  for  said  industrial  school,  with  the  consent  of  the  city  council, 
for  a  period  of  four  years,  and  the  compensation  of  such  superin¬ 
tendent  and  matron  may  be  fixed  by  said  board  of  managers.  Said 
board  shall  appoint  such  other  employees  as  may  be  necessary.  Said 
superintendent  shall  render  to  said  board  of  managers  a  monthly 
statement  of  all  moneys  received  and  paid  out  on  behalf  of  said  indus¬ 
trial  school,  which  shall  be  carefully  inspected  by  at  least  two  mem¬ 
bers  of  said  board;  and,  if  found  to  be  in  all  respects  correct,  the 
same  shall  be  approved.  Said  board  shall  keep  a  record  of  their  pro¬ 
ceedings,  and  shall  report  annually  to  the  municipal  assembly  of  the 
City  of  St.  Louis,  the  fiscal  affairs,  management  and  conditions  of  the 
said  industrial  school. 

Section  10.  Said  industrial  school  shall  be  open  to  visitors  at 
reasonable  hours,  and  shall  be  conducted  in  a  manner  entirely  non- 
sectarian,  and  yet  open  to  ministers  of  every  denomination,  and  with 
a  discipline  suited  to  the  government  of  children ;  but  no  clergyman 
or  teacher  of  any  religious  sect  or  denomination  shall  be  appointed  a 
manager  of  said  industrial  school,  nor  shall  said  industrial  school  be 
in  any  manner  placed  under  the  management  or  control  of  any 
religious  sect  or  denomination.  No  child  shall  be  compelled  to  per¬ 
form  severe  or  exhaustive  labor,  and  any  cruelty  or  unnecessary  harsh¬ 
ness  by  any  officer  or  employee  shall  be  followed  by  the  immediate 
discharge  of  such  officer  or  employee.  The  board  shall  provide  edu¬ 
cational  facilities,  and  some  suitable  employment  for  the  inmates  of 
said  industrial  school ;  and  all  moneys  derived  from  such  employments, 
or  in  any  other  manner  from  the  operation  of  said  industrial  school, 
shall  be  promptly  paid  into  the  city  treasury;  and  the  annual  reports 
of  the  board  of  managers,  which  they  shall  make  to  the  city,  shall 
give  a  detailed  statement  of  said  collection. 

Section  11.  Said  board  of  managers  shall  as  far  as  may  be  pos¬ 
sible,  establish,  and  it  is  hereby  made  their  special  duty  to  establish 
apartments  and  grounds  for  inmates  of  said  industrial  school  com¬ 
mitted  there  under  sentence  of  court,  as  in  section  6  hereinbefore 
provided,  or  inmates  deemed  by  the  superintendent  especially  vicious 
or  ungovernable,  separate  and  apart  from  the  remainder  of  said 
inmates :  and  it  is  made  the  special  duty  of  said  managers  and  super¬ 
intendents  to  prevent  all  contact  and  association  between  said  classes 
hereinbefore  mentioned,  so  far  as  may  be  practicable. 


-87- 


An  ordinance  creating  the  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians,  defining 
the  number  of  its  members,  their  terms  of  office,  their  qualifica¬ 
tions,  duties  and  powers,  authorizing*  said  board  to  manage  the 
St.  Louis  Industrial  School,  and  authorizing  said  board  to  receive 
delinquent,  dependent  and  defective  children  and  to  place  them 
in  public  institutions  or  with  families,  providing  for  the  payment 
for  the  care  of  any  such  child,  and  making  an  appropriation  there¬ 
for,  and  repealing  Sections  1728,  1729,  1730  and  1731  of  the  Re¬ 
vised  Code  of  St.  Louis. 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  Municipal  Assembly  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis, 
as  follows : 

Section  1.  There  is  hereby  created  the  Board  of  Children's 
Guardians  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  to  consist  of  seven  members,  at 
least  two  of  whom  shall  be  women,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
mayor,  with  the  approval  of  the  council,  for  a  term  of  four  years  and 
shall  serve  without  compensation.  No  clergyman  nor  teacher  of 
any  religious  sect  or  denomination  shall  be  qualified  to  membership 
for  appointment  to  said  board. 

Section  2.  ‘Within  thirty  days  after  the  passage  of  this  ordi¬ 
nance  the  mayor  shall  appoint  two  members  to  said  board  for  a  term 
of  one  year  each,  two  members  for  a  term  of  two  years  each,  two 
members  for  a  term  of  three  years  each,  and  one  member  for  a  term 
of  four  years,  and  thereafter,  as  these  terms  expire,  the  mayor  shall 
appoint  members  for  a  term  of  four  years.  The  board  shall  choose 
one  of  their  number  as  chairman  thereof  and  one  as  vice-chairman. 
The  board  shall  meet  at  least  twice  a  month  and  a  majority  of  their 
number  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  Said  board  shall  have  an  office 
in  the  City  Hall  or  in  some  other  municipal  building. 

Section  3.  The  board  shall  appoint  a  secretary  who  shall  not  be 
of  their  own  number.  Such  secretary  shall  receive  a  salary  not  ex¬ 
ceeding  twenty-four  hundred  dollars  annually,  payable  out  of  the  city 
treasury  in  monthly  installments.  The  board  shall  appoint  three  vis¬ 
itors  at  an  annual  salary  not  exceeding  nine  hundred  dollars  each,  and 
a  stenographer  at  a  salary  not  exceeding  seventy-five  dollars  a  month. 
The  secretary  and  all  other  employees  shall  serve  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  board.  The  appointment  of  secretary  and  visitors  shall  be 
made  on  merit  only,  after  competitive  examination  conducted  by  the 


-88- 


board  or  by  a  committee  thereof  under  rules  made  a  matter  of  public 
record  of  the  board. 


Section  4.  Said  board  shall  have  charge  of  and  shall  manage 
the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School.  It  shall  have  power  and  authority, 
first,  to  make  all  needful  contracts  for  said  industrial  school,  its 
officers  and  inmates;  second,  to  make,  establish,  alter  and  enforce  all 
needful  regulations  for  the  government  and  control  of  said  industrial 
school,  its  officers  and  inmates ;  third,  to  appoint  and  employ  upon 
the  recommendation  of  the  superintendent  such  officers  and  employees 
as  may  be  necessary. 


Section  5.  The  mayor,  with  the  approval  of  the  city  council, 
shall  appoint  a  superintendent  of  said  industrial  school  for  a  period 
of  i'our  years.  No  clergyman  or  teacher  of  any  religious  sect  or 
denomination  shall  be  qualified  for  such  appointment,  nor  shall  said 
industrial  school  be  placed  under  the  management  or  control  of  any 
religious  sect  or  denomination,  but  shall  be  conducted  in  an  entirely 
non-sectarian  manner  and  yet  open  to  ministers  of  every  denomina¬ 
tion.  Said  superintendent  shall  render  to  said  Board  of  Children’s 
Guardians  a  monthly  statement  of  all  moneys  received  and  paid  out 
on  behalf  of  said  industrial  school.  All  bills  presented  for  payment 
on  account  of  said  industrial  school  shall  be  signed  by  not  less  than 
two  members  of  said  board  and  shall  be  approved  by  the  comptroller. 


Section  6.  Said  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians  shall  have  the 
power  and  authority  to  receive  upon  commitment  to  it  by  any  court 
of  competent  jurisdiction  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis  and  to  take  charge 
of  any  child,  and  to  receive  and  take  charge  of  any  neglected,  depend¬ 
ent  or  defective  child  who  is  a  public  charge  on  said  city. 


Section  7.  Said  Board  of  Children’s  Guardians  shall  have  the 
power  and  authority  to  place  any  child  in  its  charge  for  temporary 
custody  in  the  House  of  Detention;  to  place  delinquent  and  defective 
children  in  any  public  institution  within  the  State  of  Missouri  for  the 
care  of  delinquent  or  defective  children,  provided,  however,  that  no 
child  shall  be  placed  in  the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School  unless  it 
shall  have  been  adjudged  a  delinquent  by  a  court  of  competent 
jurisdiction,  or  unless  it  be  a  defective  child.  Said  board  shall  have 
power  and  authority  to  place  any  child  in  its  charge  or  under  its  con¬ 
trol  with  any  family  qualified  and  able  in  the  opinion  of  said  board 
to  provide  for  the  comfort  and  wants  of  such  child  and  to  care  for 
its  moral  and  physical  welfare,  provided  that  no  child  shall  be  placed 
with  any  family  when  the  head  thereof  is  of  different  religious 


-89- 


affiliation  from  that  of  the  child's  former  parents  or  guardians,  if 
such  affiliation  can  he  ascertained. 

Section  8.  For  each  child  so  placed  by  said  board  in  any  public 
institution  within  the  State  of  Missouri,  the  City  of  St.  Louis  shall 
pay  whatever  sum  may  be  fixed  by  statute  or  whatever  sums  may  be 
agreed  upon  by  said  Board  not  in  excess  of  the  sum  fixed  by  statute. 
For  every  child  placed  with  a  family  the  city  shall  pay  whatever  sum 
is  agreed  upon  by  said  board,  not  in  excess,  however,  of  the  sum  of 
$3.50  per  week ;  provided,  however,  that  with  the  consent  of  the 
comptroller  first  had  and  obtained,  as  evidenced  by  his  certificate  in 
each  and  every  case,  the  said  board  may  authorize  and  the  citv  shall 
pay  a  greater  amount,  as  fixed  by  the  comptroller’s  certificate.  In 
addition  to  said  amount  thus  fixed,  the  city,  upon  the  action  of  said 
board,  shall  pay  for  clothing  and  for  medical  treatment  the  additional 
sum  of  $25.00  per  year  per  child,  provided,  however,  that  a  greater 
sum  may  be  authorized  by  said  board  and  shall  be  paid  by  the  city, 
upon  the  certificate  of  the  comptroller  having  been  first  had  and 
obtained  in  each  and  every  case. 

Section  9.  Said  Board  shall  submit  to  the  Municipal  Assembly 
annually  an  estimate  of  the  amount  needed  for  the  maintenance  and 
operation  of  the  St.  Louis  Industrial  School  and  also  an  estimate  of 
the  amount  needed  for  the  payment  of  board  of  children  placed  by  the 
said  board  in  public  institutions  or  with  families.  Said  board  shall 
also  render  an  annual  report  to  the  Municipal  Assembly  and  a  monthly 
report  to  the  mayor  showing  the  number  of  children  in  its  charge  or 
under  its  control,  the  manner  in  which  each  child  came  into  said 
board’s  control,  its  age,  sex,  color  and  last  known  address,  and  the 
names  and  residence  and  occupation  of  the  parents  or  guardians 
of  each  child  if  such  information  is  known,  the  disposition  of  each 
case,  the  number  and  names  of  those  finally  discharged  from  the 
board’s  control,  the  amount  of  expenditures  on  account  of  the  work 
of  the  said  board,  and  any  and  all  information  that  the  board  may 
be  able  to  furnish. 

Section  10.  Sections  1728,  1729,  1730  and  1731  of  Article  2  of 
Chapter  21  of  the  Revised  Code  of  St.  Louis  relating  to  “Foundlings” 
are  hereby  repealed. 

Section  11.  There  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  the  moneys 

not  otherwise  appropriated,  the  sum  of  . 

dollars  for  the  purposes  of  said  board. 


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